Qualla: Hackney Empire https://qualla.com/hackney-empire en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/hackney-empire-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Hackney Empire https://qualla.com/hackney-empire Hackney Empire: Introduction https://qualla.com/hackney-empire/ Photo credit Tnarik Innael from London, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 6 September 2023, the Rolling Stones held their album launch press conference at the Hackney Empire. Jimmy Fallon interviewed Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood on the stage of a 122-year-old music hall — a building that had hosted Charlie Chaplin when he was a music hall comedian, Marie Lloyd at the height of her fame, and Stan Laurel before he met Oliver Hardy. The choice of venue was deliberate: the album was called Hackney Diamonds, named for the slang term for broken glass. The Empire has survived its share of breakage.

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Image: Tnarik Innael from London | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/hackney-empire-wp/gcpv-hackney-empire-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Hackney Empire: Frank Matcham's Masterwork https://qualla.com/hackney-empire/ Photo credit N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Hackney Empire opened in 1901, designed by the architect Frank Matcham, who was responsible for more than 150 theatres across Britain during his career. Matcham understood music hall audiences: they wanted spectacle from every angle, and the Empire's seventy-seven-galleried a...

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Image: N Chadwick | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/hackney-empire-wp/gcpv-hackney-empire-frank-matchams-masterwork.mp3 0:06 2 full Hackney Empire: The Stars Who Passed Through https://qualla.com/hackney-empire/ Photo credit Vicky Ayech, CC BY-SA 2.0. In its music hall years, the Hackney Empire's stage carried some of the most famous performers of the early 20th century. Charlie Chaplin performed here before he emigrated to America and transformed himself into cinema's first global icon. Gracie Fields, Stanley Holloway, and Ju...

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Image: Vicky Ayech | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/hackney-empire-wp/gcpv-hackney-empire-the-stars-who-passed-through.mp3 0:06 3 full Hackney Empire: Bingo Hall to Alternative Comedy https://qualla.com/hackney-empire/ Photo credit Ewan Munro from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. By the mid-20th century, music hall was dying and television had changed what entertainment meant. The Empire became a bingo hall. By 1984, the bingo operation found the building too expensive to maintain and handed it over to CAST — the Cartoon Archetypical Slogan Theatre — a sa...

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Image: Ewan Munro from London, UK | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/hackney-empire-wp/gcpv-hackney-empire-bingo-hall-to-alternative-comedy.mp3 0:06 4 full Hackney Empire: Restoration and the Modern Empire https://qualla.com/hackney-empire/ Photo credit It's No Game, CC BY 2.0. In 2001, the Empire closed for a £17 million refurbishment designed by Tim Ronalds Architects, reopening in 2004. The restoration added a 60-seat orchestra pit to allow opera performances, a flytower for stage productions, and improved dressing rooms. Comedian Griff Rhys Jones le...

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Image: It's No Game | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/hackney-empire-wp/gcpv-hackney-empire-restoration-and-the-modern-empire.mp3 0:06 5 full