a rye lane... thing

[tom p]

along rye lane in peckham opposite bournmouth road there is a strange archway in the buildings, leading to the car park behind. there is a glass window with some poetry written on it and inside you can see a large metal structure. i lived next door to this for a year and could find no reason for it, no access to it or any informtion on it.. what is it?? this has been bugging me for years!

a picture from the car park side can be seen here: (hopefully)

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j174/tomproper/Image204.jpg

thanks,

tom

[computedshorty]

This was the entrance to The Tower Cinema, named as the Tower that stood high towering over the nearby shops, from Rye Lane up a flight of marble stairs to a large area, there the tickets were purchased, and the entrance to the lower Auditorium, there the organ would be played before the film show, there were several columns that if you were seated behind them blocked your view, the circle was up more stairs, leading from the area where the shop selling cigarettes and confactionery. This was the larger of the Peckham Cinemas.

The cellars were used as Air Raid Shelters in the second world war including my family, the entrance was from the rear car park. if an Air Raid warning had been sounded there was a slide that showed over the film saying that a Raid had started you are invited to use the Air Raid Shelters below.

There was another cinema Between Choumert Road and Sternhall Lane called The Tower Annex. Later a Royal Arsenal

Co-operative clothing store.

[tom p]

Thank you so much..

Do you know what would the metal cylinder that is exposed was? I take it that this is a kind of memorial to the cinema as apposed to a functioning thing?

Was the cinema bombed in WW2 or just re developed (into a car park) later on? Did Rye Lane suffer much in the Blitz?

Sorry for the barrage of questions and thanks in advance,

Tom

[computedshorty]

!925. It was not blitzed, demolished at the end of the cinema era.

In 1920s there were five cinemas on Rye Lane alone. The Tower Cinema closed in 1956.

[tom p]

Ahh thanks..

Cant see the attached pic but i think this is a link to your pic: http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/southwark/peckham/rye-lane-1925.htm

Yep, it really was a tower!

I can now rest easy, cheers

[PeckhamRose]

May I make a suggestion that you join The Peckham Society and also read some of Mr John Beasley's books about Peckham?

You'll learn that the wood structure building behind 'Crackerjacks' on Peckham High Street has finally been granted Grade II listing! Having said that, the website is not often updated, but the quarterly magazine edited by Mr Beasley himself has come second in some national award for the best local group magazine. How fab is that!

[dbboy]

From the descriptions it sounds like in the early 1900's Peckham was quite a prosperous area which might explain why Austin's survived so long??

It is very interesting when all this history comes to light nearly a 100 years later, really fasinacting. I remember the days of Jones and Higgins and have been told that on a Saturday morning the Lane would see the pavements four abreast with shoppers.

[ontheedge]

There was a saying "if you can't get it in Peckham you won't get it anywhere" Rye Lane was once apperantly a great shopping area in '91 there still was M&S,BHS,Sainsburys, Austins was at the top with each floor accomadating to different budgets. Friends still talk about the great department store that was Higgins & Jones. Sad Woolworths has been replaced by a pound shop!

[intexasatthe moment]

the Lane would see the pavements four abreast with shoppers

they still are aren't they?

[Ted Max]

if you can't get it in Peckham you won't get it anywhere

This still holds true too, in many respects. Ahem.

[ontheedge]

bit like Harrods really

[computedshorty]

The Tower Cinema site has part of the Tower encased in a cage this has two reasons one is to protect any person passing underneath it from falling masonary, and still preserving part of the original Tower.

The side walls are shared part of the cinema, and to remove them might weaken the adjoining premises, having these remain, ensures that the site has not been cleared of all buildings, this is a planning issue.

There are many webs relating to Peckham, but the same thing happens there should a member try to give memories of that area He/She are rebuked as having copied and pasted material from other places, and so the person who tries to help just does not bother to continue doing it. As many of these webs charge a Membership fee they are not popular, and tend to lose activity.

This is a shame as there must be so many who would love to reminis those past times.

The Peckham area is not part of EDF.

A Thread could be made for those who want it, but that is up to Admin if asked might allow it.

Has anybody any view on this?

[Spartacus]

Hi Tom P

The structure houses a Zoetrope, a cylinder that has images on the inside and slits on the outside.

It was installed by The Peckham Partnership (which became the Peckham Programme which has now thankfully vanished) and was supposed to rotate and show a moving image.

Sadly, like a lot of things planned by the Project Managers of the Peckham Partnership / Programme, they failed to establish a maintenance policy for it, and even more bizarely they failed to gain access rights to the tower.

This caused a problem when it was installed as their was a fault with the design which neeeded correcting (I think from memory that it was electrical) and it hever really got switched on as a result. I asked a Mr Strabens from the council a few years ago if it could be corrected and he appeared rather negative about it, told me that it would cost too much and by now the mechanism would more then likely not work due to age and lack of use.

Pity as it would have been a lovely thing to see in action.

Regarding the prosperity of Rye Lane, up until the early 70's Peckham was the place to be for shops, Rye Lane was called the golden Mile, it rivaled places like oxford Street and sadly, due to the council investing in (what we now call 'Social Housing') in the Peckham area and inviting Single parent families to come to Southwark (Again as I understand it, this was down to Government Grants at the time for Councils who did this) that the economic prosperity of the area was reduced by a lack of people in work, spending less in the vicinity and as a result the bigger stores moved out due to a reduction in income.

Sad really, but I hope my information helps

[Drxyster]

Hi computedshorty,

Fascinating, very grateful to read the information in your post. I grew up in the Peckham Camberwell area in the 60s and had no idea about the Tower apart from it originally being a cinema. Is it true that Rye Lane Bargain Centre, that had Rossi's the Ice Cream Parlour on one corner of the Rye Lane Entrance and I believe Sidney Fox the tailor on the other corner was also originally a cinema, The layout of the building certainly seems to lend itself to this. I also remember Jones & Higgins department store, great reminiscing.