Soho Theatre opens with Weer in Walthamstow

Last night I was lucky to be invited to attend the first performance at this newly refurbished Art Deco era venue in Hoe Street (thanks Gaby!). The launch had been the previous evening, 1st May 2025, featuring a cross section of artists including Alex Horne and the Horne Section, but we were there to watch Natalie Palamides perform 'Weer' a truly inventive piece of theatre on many levels (see more below).

Natalie is not the only star here – the restored theatre is a delight and certainy has that 'wow' factor as you enter the foyer area. Original Art Deco features have been uncovered, enhanced, researched and copied to create an excellent modern theatre.

It had originally opened in the early 1930s as part of Sidney Bernstein's Granada chain and was designed by Cecil Massey who is also responsible for other Granada theatres, specifically the impressive example in Tooting – the panels either side of the auditorium here in Walthamstow echoing the Moorish style he employed for this chain.

The auditorium is stunning. I was surprised to see how large it is. It originally held over 2000 seats but this has been reduced to just under 1000. It's lovely. 

My only gripe is the sound levels everywhere. We found the bar area to be horribly noisy – I could barely hear what my friend was saying and our throats were becoming sore from having to shout above the hubbub, so we moved into the auditorium and encountered the same problem of people talking loudly exacerbated/caused by the overly loud music that was playing. Oh and another thing, I noticed that the area twixt bar and access to the Circle seems to have been forgotten as regards interior design – it's just a bland space – we entered it and went back again to check we'd gone the right way because it looks more like a staff only space that out to be off limits to the punters.

But, let's end on a good thing – Walthamstow residents are eligible for cheaper tickets at this venue. 

Re the performance – I had no idea what I was going to see. Natalie's performance is very cever, inventive and truly amazing. I like to go to things 'blind' because then I get the full value of the thing without preconception. Find out more info about this show and more at this venue here. 

 

A Co-operative ghostsign in Walthamstow

I little while ago, I heard that a Co-operative ghostsign in Walthamstow had been overpainted. I'd assumed it was this one below, on the side of Tommy's Tuck-in Cafe at 422 Forest Road opposite Lloyd Park and the William Morris museum.

But no, passing it on a bus earlier this week, I see it's still there, albeit slighty obscrured by modern signage panels at low level. My pic above, taken on a dull day in October 2008, shows that some of the wording has, over time, been overpainted. A brighter day can be found on retrospective Google streetview here.

The parts that have been covered/saved by a later C20th advertisement appear to read:

SOCIETY Ltd
(...)  Enjoy the Best (....)
Co-operative Trading

Unfortunately I can't get any further with this because I don't have any reference to hand for Walthamstow. At the time this was created, Forest Road would not have been part of Greater London, so do let me know if you can shed more light on this one because the lack of local listings and directories is hindering my sleuthing abilities.

Note the name of the street, Jewel Road – I love that the roads either side of it are Pearl Road and Ruby Road. I have no idea why this should be. Again, any further info welcome.

Oh, sorry, I almost forgot – the 'lost' Co-operative sign mentioned in my opening sentence was at another site further east, visible from St James Street station, here and there are lots of ghostsigns in that area of Walthamstow, almost on every corner.

Both of these Co-op shops would have been rather small compared to the Co-op's marvellous building on Hoe Street which features some fab examples of the society's often-used beehive motif, a symbol of working together. This big store also sports some commemorative panels that show that it was constructed as the Stratford Co-operative Society. Notice also that there is still a Co-op funeral services shop trading from there.

At the Hoe Street end of Ruby Road there is a recently uncovered ghostsign for Warner's the super grocers', an independent local trader who can't have been pleased about the co-op's domination in the area. And another Walthamstow ghostsign that intrigues me can be found just east of Jewel Rd, at the northern end of Wood Street, on the corner of Woodlands Rd – there's a long wall where one of the signs had been covered and protected. It was revealed c2016. I went to check on it a few days ago:

This one is proving hard to decipher. There are tantalising hints of red and black script under that cream paint but thus far I can only name out the word 'The' which is isn't getting me very far. Who knows, perhaps it's another Co-op sign?

Let's keep an eye on these walls because our modern water-based polymer paints will not stand the test of time – the layers of weathershield will gradually peel away to reval the ghosts of the past... ooh, the suspense!

The Walthamstow Fragment – an Ionic Conundrum

Outside Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow Village there sits a short column with an Ionic capital.
Its irregular shape kept me intrigued for quite some time because I noticed that no two corners are the same – one corner is a true right angle, the next an acute angle, the opposite one has a corner cut into it and the last is an obtruse angle. Oh, and for some reason the one true corner is angled at the very top edge.
And, rather than all four side faces being the same, giving the illusion of a scroll falling on a column when viewed from any angle, this one depicts a scroll cut and flipped through the diagonal, such that faces A and B are alike with the usual egg and dart design, but faces B and C have some central foliage.
It's rather hard to explain so here are some photos:

It's an architectural conundrum; a stone mason's nightmare.
Intrigued, and thinking it was an art installation, I looked for an information plaque, but could not find one.
Having just researched it online, all I can find is that it is a relic of a GPO building demolished in 1912. But it doesn't say which GPO building or where exactly it stood.

. . . . .

I wrote the above and hit 'save' rather than 'publish' and went to check out porticos with ionic columns. And I now see that it's all very simple...
This Walthamstow fragment must have been the left corner of a portico. For example, see St Pancras Church opposite Euston Station – for the corner columns of the adjacent outward-facing sides to both depict a scroll they must have a common protruding angled corner piece, and the opposite internal corner needs a chunk 'missing' so that it aligns with the flat scrolls on the interior sides of the other columns (are you following this at the back?!).
Blimey, that was hard work, but I do now feel enlightened.
As for the irregular obtruse and acute angles I noticed on the Walthamstow fragment, I am now wondering if I didn't see that at all; the mind/eye can often play funny tricks... Or maybe, if I observed it correctly, the GPO building was, indeed, a bit out of true or built on a strangely-shaped plot of land.
A return visit is needed, or if anyone lives nearby, perhaps they could go and have a look for me and report back.