This week in February 1992, Vincent Hayes was putting the finishing touches to his ambitious venture, a brand new music hall, the first music hall to open in Britain since the Second World War. Vincent chose Brick Lane because it was at the vibrant heart of the East End.  At the time the area was still run-down, with the iconic Truman Brewery building standing empty, its former canteen disused. Vincent took a chance on both the venue and the public’s appetite for music hall shows. Loving music hall himself, he felt that there was no reason others shouldn’t love it too, especially since he intended to create a music hall fit for the times.

The Truman Brewery and Brick Lane proved to be the perfect starting point for Vincent’s venture, so much so that within a few years the business needed to move to larger premises, first in Shoreditch and then on to Silvertown, though retaining its original name. Brick Lane Music Hall has always represented Vincent’s own unique take on music hall, with laughter the key ingredient. It is safe to say that Vincent has successfully re-ignited the public’s love of this very British form of entertainment.

One of the early line-ups: left to right, Peter John, Barbara Windsor, Brian Walker, Judith Hibbert and Vincent Hayes

A cartoon appeared in the London Evening Standard, where Robert Gore-Langton in one of our earliest reviews, wrote “There is an atmosphere of dissenting comic anarchy in tune with the original spirit of music hall. It also has the most socially diverse audience I have ever seen in one room. The night I went, the Bishop of Lancaster was at a table with a nun and two monks.”

Vincent Hayes on stage with the late Danny La Rue, who was one of Brick Lane Music Hall’s great early supporters.