Harringay Arena

Harringay Arena was a sporting and events venue on Green Lanes in Harringay, North London, England. Built in 1936, it lasted as a venue until 1958.

Construction

The Arena was built and owned by Brigadier-General Alfred Critchley under the auspices of his private company, the "Greyhound Racing Association Trust Ltd" (GRA). A new company, "Harringay Arena Limited", whose directors were also directors of the GRA, was incorporated in 1929 to build and manage the venue. The company raised funds for the venture via a stock and share issue in January 1936. ["The Guardian", January 19th, 1936.] Designed by Dr. Oscar Faber, [cite book|last = T. F. T. Baker & C. R. Elrington (Editors) |title = A History of the County of Middlesex, Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham|pages = 339-342|publisher = Accessed online at [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=26990 British History Online] | date = 1976] the Arena was a stark modernist octagonal-shaped building which borrowed heavily from the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. It was erected adjacent to the Harringay Stadium in just eight months between February and October 1936. Its vast steel roof was constructed by Dorman Long & Co who had recently been responsible for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and completed the new Wembley Stadium in 2007.

It had a seating capacity of almost 10,000 for ice hockey and slightly more for boxing. The actual arena was convert|198|ft|m long by convert|88|ft|m wide. ["Horse of the Year Show" Programme, 1957, page 67.] A removable maple floor could be laid over the ice for non-sporting events. This arrangement clearly proved troublesome. At an event shortly after its opening the "Daily Herald" reported that "claims that Harringay had solved its cold-feet problem were not quite substantiated. Cold air from the ice below the boards filtered through".This article has relied heavily on cite book|last = Ticher|first=Mike|title="The Story of Harringay Stadium and Arena"|publisher=Hornsey Historical Society|date=2002|isbn =: 0 905794 29 X.]

ports venue

Specifically designed as an ice hockey venue, it quickly became famous as a venue for both ice hockey and boxing. Up to the Second World War, ice hockey enjoyed its most popular era in the UK until a revival in the 1990s. Two local teams were formed for the Arena's opening, Harringay Racers and Harringay Greyhounds. However, the interruption of the war proved very damaging to the sport's popularity and post-war audiences remained thin for the remainder of the Arena's life.

Boxing became firmly established at the Arena prior to the war. On April 7th 1938 Harringay was the venue for the first boxing match to be televised live when the full 15 rounds between Len Harvey v Jock McAvoy were broadcast. Following the war Harringay was a very successful boxing venue. During its 22 year life, it was home to five world title fights, a record for any British venue by the time the Arena ceased operating as a venue in 1958 [ [http://www.boxrec.com/location.php?country_code=UK&region_name=LON&towncity_name=&towncity_id=15994&venue_name=&venue_id=26011&yyyy=&select_action=Go A list of all fights held at Harringay from BoxerRec.com] ] .
However famous the Arena became for boxing, commercial necessity led to a diversification into a wider range of events including:

*The basketball [ [http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/arenaharringay.html Kentucky's Harringay Arena Record] ] [ [http://www.scarboroughseahawks.co.uk/zonepress/Ed40.pdf Malcolm Finlay (1919 - 2007), Great Britain’s First Basketball Captain] ] and wrestling events for the 1948 London Olympic Games.
*All England Open Badminton Championships from 1947 - 1949. [ [http://www.badminton-information.com/all_england_badminton.html badminton-information.com] ]
*Home of the Horse of the Year Show for its first ten years, from 1949 to 1958. In its final year at Harringay, the show featured in the first broadcast of the BBC's new Saturday afternoon sports programme "Grandstand".
*Roller Speedway from 1939 until 1952, with a break during the War. [Roller Speedway was a modified version of the US invented sport Roller Derby. Roller Speedway normally featured two teams, representing Europe and USA.]
*Wrestling.
*Five-a-side football.
*Basketball.
*European Netball Championships from 1955. [ [http://www.sportfocus.com/pdf/History%20of%20Netball.pdf sportfocus.com] ]

Entertainment venue

The Arena's diversification went beyond sports and included a variety of entertainment events including:
*Ground breaking classical music events popularising classical music for the first time including the "London Music Festival" in 1947 and 1948. The '48 festival included the hugely popular London debut of Pierino Gamba. [This [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1iga_QVlCQ You Tube Video] shows Gamba conducting an orchestra in Paris in the same year as he came to Harringay] 10,000 people watched this ten year old boy conduct the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra playing Beethoven and Dvořák. The festival also featured the world-famous Manuel Rosenthal, who brought his Orchestre National de France to join Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic in a concert that filled the Harringay Arena with 13,500 listeners

A report in "The Guardian" on a classical music event in June of the following year gives some idea of how ground-breaking Harringay was in presenting classical music at a more popular venue:

cquote|Harringay Arena as a concert Hall is staggering. The finicky hate it. That is an initial point in its favour. For those whose hearts are liberal and Whitmanesque, the current London Music Festival is moving as well as mammoth. Never before have I seen a multitude lie so quiescently in the hollow of a composer's hand. The Albert Hall is a restless and limited thing by comparison.

I passed turnstiles, barking stewards, ice-cream hawkers and bars stacked with sixpenny slices of pie. These are the things which make the finicky rear and paw.....At the end of the first movement 9,000 pairs of hands clapped uncontrollably. This was the only indiscretion of an intent and almost coughless evening.....

Occasionally a locomotive on the nearby line to Southend hissed uncritically or improved the orchestration with a hoot.

Where did the thousands come from? I have never seen their like in any concert hall before. There was so little dimness among the elderly. There were so few corduroys, beards and bandanna headsquares among the young. These Harringaieties are, take them all in all, quite a phenomenon. Some sociologist should put them under his spy-glass ["The Guardian", 13th June, 1948]

*Classical ballet events - Harringay Arena, along with Empress Hall, Earl's Court, was the venue for a series of five gala performances by Alicia Markova, Anton Dolin and the Ballet Rambert from August 27th to September 1st 1949. The success of these performances led to the formation of the English National Ballet. [ [http://www.englishnationalballet.com/reference_complete_history1.htm English National Ballet history on the English National Ballet website] ] [ [http://www.ballet.co.uk/nov97/year_1949.htm Excerpts from Ballet Magazine on line] ]

*A venue for many circuses, the Arena was home to Tom Arnold's annual Harringay Circus for 10 seasons from Christmas 1947 to Christmas 1957. For the first circus show in 1947 Arnold specially imported 20 baby elephants from Ceylon. They arrived at the George V Dock in London's Docklands in October 1947 on SS Arbratus.

Billy Smart occasionally appeared these shows. At one of the "Mammoth Christmas Circus", he spray-painted five of his elephants white, yellow, blue, cream and pink. [Billy Smart Junior - Obituary, The Independent, 24th May, 2005]

The 'resident band' for the circuses was led by Charles Shadwell and the signature tune "Down with the Curtain" always introduced the proceedings.

The Arena also hosted a number of other circus shows. In 1956 the Moscow State Circus came to Harringay, the first occasion on which a state circus from the Soviet Union had visited Western Europe. [Moscow State Circus. Official Programme, Harringay Arena, 1956] Other events included a handful of western cowboy shows in the Fifties, including the 1952 "Texas Western Spectacle", starring the famous cowboy singer/actor Tex Ritter.

*American evangelist Billy Graham held his first 'Crusade' in the UK at the Arena from 1st March - 12th May 1954. It was the first of 23 'Crusades' and 'Missions' that he held in the UK between 1954 and 1991. His visit was started off with a gala event at the stadium which included a visit by Roy Rogers and his famous horse Trigger. [ [http://www.royrogersfestival.org/view/?pageID=321100 Roy Rogers Festival Website] ]
*The first "National Colliery Music Festival" in 1948. The festival included eight brass bands, three pipe bands and nine male voice choirs, all from collierys around the UK. There were also displays of clog dancing and sword dancing by colliery groups. The finale was a performance by a 700-strong choir accompanied by a massed brass band and conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
*Ice Skating shows including the huge production of "Rose Marie on Ice" in July 1951 starring the 1948 Olympic Champion Barbara Ann Scott.
*Ice skating for the public.

Decline & fall

Despite running an impressive and broad ranging calendar of events from 1947 to 1958, the change in the fortunes of ice hockey in the UK and the straitened post-war circumstances meant limited commercial success for the Arena after the Second World War. The Arena hosted its final event on Tuesday, 28th October 1958. It was a sentimental occasion and promoter Jack Solomons headlined with a world class lightweight fight between Dave Charnley and Carlos Ortiz (who was to go on to become world champion). Before the year was out the Arena had been handed to its new owners Cavendish Foods. It was henceforth ignominiously put to use as a food storage facility for the next 20 years until its demolition in 1978.

Through the early 1980s an open air Sunday market was held on the site up until the site was developed for shopping. The initial development included principally warehouse style shopping including DIY, bathroom and food wholesale outlets. A Royal Mail sorting facility was also built which survived the later redevelopment.

Early in the 21st Century the whole site was redeveloped for retail shopping as the Arena Shopping Park hosting mid-market brands such as "Next", "Carphone Warehouse", "Homebase" and a large "Fitness First" gym.

External links

* [http://www.topfoto.co.uk/fotoweb/Grid.fwx?archiveId=5074&SF_LASTSEARCH=harringay+and+roy&SF_FIELD1_GROUP=1&SF_GROUP1_BOOLEAN=and&SF_FIELD1_MATCHTYPE=all&SF_FIELD1=harringay+billy&SF_SEARCHINRESULT=0&doSearch=Search TopFoto photo archive of BIlly Graham's 1954 visit to Harringay Arena with opening show at Harringay Stadium]
* [http://www.harringayonline.com harringay online.com] - a local networking site with lots of information about Harringay and a good selection of Arena photos

References