Hidden theatre

I saw it a number of years ago. It was during one of those Open House London weekends. They did an Ally Pally tour, that included a brief visit to the theatre (as well as to a gallery in another part of the building, which contained piles of old televisions, cameras and associated broadcasting equipment that had been collected for a failed TV museum project).

We only stood at the rear of the circle, overlooking the cavernous auditorium, which looked very neglected, with lots of dust, rubble and crumbling plaster. They said it was too dangerous to go further into the space. They mentioned plans to restore it and that various Hampstead luvvies were involved in a campaign for this. I also recall the guide mentioning that in those days anybody with the money could build a theatre, without an architect, planning constraints etc and consequently theatres like this often had terrible sightlines, strange acoustics etc. I didn't think he was selling the concept very well, especially as it looked a lot better space than some of the West End theatres I have attended.

I saw this on TV last week, with mention of the intact machinery. Would love to go on a more comprehensive tour.