Hammersmith Palais
| "The Palais" | |
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The Hammersmith Palais de Danse entrance in May 1970.
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| Former names | Hammersmith Palais de Danse |
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| Address | 242 Shepherd's Bush Road London W6 7NL United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°29′39″N 0°13′27″W / 51.494052°N 0.224087°WCoordinates: 51°29′39″N 0°13′27″W / 51.494052°N 0.224087°W |
| Owner | Howard Booker and Frank Mitchell (1919-) Mecca Leisure Ltd. (1966-2000) Barclub Ltd. (2000-2003) |
| Type | Dance hall, music venue |
| Genre(s) | Entertainment |
| Capacity | 2,000 |
| Opened | 28 October 1919 |
| Closed | April 2007 |
| Years active | 87 |
The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, later renamed as the Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain. In 2009, it was named by the Brecon Jazz Festival as one of twelve venues which had made the most important contributions to jazz music in the United Kingdom.
The Palais occupied a large site on the A219 at 242 Shepherd's Bush Road, London W6, near the circular system under the A4 Hammersmith flyover. The area, one of London's key communication nodes, has two London Underground stations, a bus station, and the road network at Hammersmith Broadway.
On the site of a former tram depot, the Hammersmith Palais de Danse was opened on 28 October 1919, by North American entrepreneurs Howard Booker and Frank Mitchell, in order to host ballroom dancing and various kinds of dance bands, among which were the new jazz bands. Many of the famous jazz stars of the day appeared in concert there, including American jazz singer Adelaide Hall, who performed at the venue during the week from 27 March to 2 April 1939, accompanied by the Florida Club Orchestra. In October 1933, a new maple dance floor was installed in the venue; it was advertised as being "England's finest £5,000 maple floor".
For a period in the 1930s, part of the Palais site was used as an ice rink, with the original London Lions ice hockey team using it as a base. The pipes for the ice rink were still under the dance floor, along with the rails of the original tram shed. Parts of the very well sprung dance floor had removable sections where one could clearly see all the pipes and tracks.
During the 1960s, Joe Loss and his Orchestra, with singers Rose Brennan, Ross MacManus and Larry Gretton, were a regular feature every night; except on Monday's "Record Night", when only recorded music were played and no alcohol being served from the bar. Other house bands during the 1960s and 1970s included Andy Ross, Ken Mackintosh, Tony Evans, and Zodiac. Many Saturday nights, in excess of 2,000 people would visit the venue. One of the features was a huge revolving stage with a band on each side (this also caused a number of accidents when microphones and stands were left on the revolve).
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