Dates

• Existence: c1884 - 1920
• Usage: c1887 - 1920

Biography

The Empire opened on 17 April 1884 as a West End variety theatre and ballet venue on Leicester Square, London.

In 1887 it was renamed The Empire Theatre of Varieties and reopened as a music hall. In 1893 an extension providing secondary access from Leicester Street via a new foyer was added.

From 1896, The Empire Theatre started to incorporate films to its programme. In the 1920s as film became increasingly popular the theatre was sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1927 the theatre was demolished and rebuilt into an American style movie palace, offering ballet and dance performances, which opened the following year. The Empire continued showing a mixture of live shows and moving picture until it was sold to Mecca in 1961, who turned it into a cinema and dance hall. During the following decades the building was used as a discothèque and nightclub, until in 2007 it was reopened as the Casino at the Empire, which still operates today.