Stan & Ollie

The film Stan & Ollie, now on general release, is set in Laurel & Hardy’s tour of Britain in 1953-54. At the beginning, they were not to know that this was to be their final tour anywhere. One of their engagements was at the Empress Theatre, Brixton, for  the week beginning Monday, 16th November 1953.
The Empress was on the corner of Brighton Terrace and Bernay’s Grove. Originally built in 1898, it was remodelled in an Art Deco style in 1931; it became a Grenada cinema in 1957 and then a bingo hall in 1966; it was demolished in 1992 to make way for the residential development which still occupies the corner site.