Wembley Studios
| Fountain Studios | |
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Fountain Studios in 2008
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 Location within Greater London
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| Former names | Associated-Rediffusion Studios London Weekend Television Lee International Film and Television Studios Limehouse Television Studios |
| General information | |
| Type | Television studios |
| Address | 128 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley, HA9 8HP |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°33′40″N 0°16′54″W / 51.5612°N 0.2818°WCoordinates: 51°33′40″N 0°16′54″W / 51.5612°N 0.2818°W |
| Website | |
| Website | |
Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio located in Wembley Park, Wembley, north-west London, close to Wembley Park underground station. The company was part of the Avesco Group plc.
A number of companies owned the site before it was purchased by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film studio complex, it was formerly the base for the ITV contractors Rediffusion from 1955 to 1968, and London Weekend Television from 1968 to 1972.
More recently, the studios were best known for being the venue for the live stages of ITV shows The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent. Other programmes made at Fountain include The Cube and The British Comedy Awards. Fountain Studios has also hosted Pop Idol, Test the Nation and The Kumars at No. 42.
In January 2016, it was confirmed that the studios have been sold for £16 million to a property developer, Quintain. The lease (at present up to 8 years) for the site is still available and several parties have expressed an interest. The most likely use will be to retain the building and turn it into a 1000 seat theatre and that may start after the decommissioning of the studio equipment for sale by auction in February 2017.
The last shows to be broadcast live (and recorded) at the studios were The X Factor and The Xtra Factor on 4 December 2016.
In 1927, Ralph J. Pugh and Rupert Mason founded British Incorporated Pictures with the intention of creating an American-style studio complex in the former British Empire Exhibition's Palace of Engineering. They bought a lease at Wembley in June 1927, though it was for the Lucullus Garden Club Restaurant site, not the Palace of Engineering. Their financial backing fell through and in May 1928 the lease was sold to Victor Sheridan. Sheridan announced that £500,000 was to be spent on developing the biggest and best-equipped studio centre in Europe. Sheridan sold his lease to British Talking Pictures a few months later. In September 1928, British Talking Pictures formed a subsidiary, British Sound Film Productions, to make films at Wembley. Wembley Studios was Britain's first purpose-built sound studios. Its three sound stages were officially opened in September 1929. Perhaps because of a major fire, the studio was never as successful as had been hoped. They were taken over by the American Fox Film Company, who leased the site and then bought it outright in 1936.
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