Ice Skating – Forest Gate Ice Rink Roller Skating Badge 1950s

Description

DATE 1950’S

An old 1950s rare metal ice skating badge.

A little bit of East End social history here – a pewter finish and blue enamel badge from the Forest Gate Roller Skating Club on Woodgrange Road in Forest Gate, made by H W Miller Ltd in Birmingham. This would only have been available to those who joined the Roller Skating Club at the Forest Gate Rink, not to casual skaters.

The venue, which started out as the Forest Gate Public Hall in 1902, was set back from Woodgrange Road, on its own wide entrance road. During its life, it was known as The Grand Theatre; The People’s Picture Palace; The Public Hall; The Grand Cinema, and the King’s Cinema, before becoming the Roller Skating Rink, which attracted skaters from far and wide to the venue, which became an icon for many young people growing up in London’s East End during the 1940’s & 50’s.

After Roller Skating diminished in popularity, the building became boxer Billy Walker’s ‘Upper Cut Club’ during 1966, which in its first week of opening, hosted gigs by The Who; The Easybeats; Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch; Eric Burdon & The Animals; The Jimi Hendrix Experience; The Pretty Things; The Spencer Davis Group, and Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band!

The Club closed after just 12 months of business, and later became a Bingo Hall, and then an electrical store until 2000. The building was demolished in 2005, and is now the

Condition
V Good,cfld,lcr,corner crease,

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