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Venue info

Venue History

EVENTIM APOLLO, LONDON

Eventim Apollo is one of London’s major live entertainment venues. Located in Hammersmith, West London it is one of the UK’s largest and best-preserved original theatres first opening on the 28th of March, 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema with Tom Walls “A Night Like This” and Helen Twelvetrees in "Bad Company".

It was designed on behalf of a joint collaboration between exhibitor Israel Davis and the Gaumont British Theatres chain by renowned theatre architect Robert Cromie.

Designed in the Art Deco style original features included 3,487 seats, a large 35 foot deep stage, an excellent fan shaped auditorium (allowing remarkable intimacy and excellent sightlines), twenty dressing rooms, a Compton4Manual/15 Ranks theatre organ and a café/restaurant located on the balcony foyer area.

From 1962 the venue was named the Hammersmith Odeon and played host to many legendary acts of the day, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Marley. It screened its last regular film on 8th August 1984, “Blue Thunder” starring Roy Scheider.

In 1992 the theatre was closed for refurbishment and reopened as the Labatt’s Apollo. During his 1992 sell out tour, the musical theatre star Michael Ball was the last person to play the venue when it was named "Odeon" and the first person to play after it was renamed "Hammersmith Apollo".

In 2003 major alterations enabled the stalls seating to be removed, allowing for both standing and fully-seated events and in 2006 the original Compton organ console which had been removed from the building and put into storage in the 1990’s was reinstated. The organ chambers had been retained and after 25 years of silence the sound of the organ was heard again.

Since 2012 the venue has been owned in a joint venture between AEG Presents and CTS Eventim, and a muti-million pound investment saw a huge visual transformation the venue as it was returned to its iconic 1932 Art Deco design. Overseen by award-winning architects Foster Wilson, highlights included returning fixtures and fittings to the original designs, restorations of the ornate plasterwork and historically sensitive decoration to match the original paint scheme. The refurbishment also revived the two marble staircases previously concealed beneath the extended stage, as well as restoration of the original foyer floor mosaic panels, whilst in the circle the original windows were revealed allowing natural light to once again flood the circle bar. New multi-coloured LED lighting on the facade highlights the new venue's prominence.

Since then further investment has seen HVAC installed, structural repair take place and all toilets fully refurbished.

Eventim Apollo continues to host some of the finest live entertainers to grace the stage and has been home to the BBC’s Live at the Apollo for the past 16 years.

American express
Grolsch
FAS400
EVENTIM400
American express
Grolsch
FAS400
EVENTIM400