Kilburn National Club
This popular music venue was at 234 Kilburn High Road, on the corner of Messina Avenue. Many famous musicians including Johnny Cash and David Bowie played there. We look at the original building which was the Grange Cinema, and what happened when the National closed and was taken over by two different church groups.
Grange Cinema
The Grange was a large mansion standing in grounds of nine and a half acres and with a frontage to Kilburn High Road. It was the home of Ada Peters the widow of a wealthy coach builder who made coaches for Queen Victoria. Following Ada’s death in 1910, the property was sold. The new owner was Oswald Stoll, a major name in the entertainment world who had already built the London Coliseum in St Martin’s Lane, near Leicester Square. Stoll wanted to erect another Coliseum theatre in Kilburn. In fact, progress overtook him and instead of a theatre, the 2,028 seat Grange cinema opened on 30 July 1914. This remained the biggest cinema in Kilburn until the huge Gaumont State opened in December 1937 with over 4,000 seats making it the largest cinema in Europe. The Grange cinema finally closed on 14 June 1975.
Butty’s Club and Dance Hall
Michael ‘Butty’ Sugrue, who ran the Admiral Nelson pub in Carlton Vale Kilburn and the Wellington in Shepherd’s Bush, opened his club in the old Grange Cinema on 23 Feb 1976. As a Kerry man he particularly catered for the Irish community. He was a wrestler, circus performer and was known as ‘Ireland’s Strongest Man’, able to lift four 56lb weights attached to a cart axle and dragging a cart filled with ten men using a rope clenched between his teeth. Butty was also an entrepreneur and a great publicist, and he persuaded Muhammad Ali to go to Dublin to fight his sparring partner, Alvin ‘Blue’ Lewis in July 1972. Closer to home, he persuaded Mick Meaney a barman at the Admiral Nelson, to break the world record for being buried alive. In April 1968 journalists joined huge crowds to watch as Mick emerged after 61 days underground. There are video clips of Butty on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX6whnRdH7E
Butty’s club ran until at least 1980 and so overlapped with the National Club.
Kilburn National Ballroom, or the Kilburn National Club
The cinema became the Kilburn National Club which ran from 15 Dec 1976 until 1999. It was owned by the Wembley building firm of Patrick, John and Tom Carey. The Carey Brothers came from Tipperary. It was an ideal venue for bands and many important groups played there.
In July 1991 an application to demolish the Grange was turned down by Camden Council as earlier that year, English Heritage had protected the building by awarding it Grade 2 listed status. When the owners wanted to replace it with a new leisure complex in 1993, this was again refused.
The director Ian Softly, used the National for his film about the Beatles called ‘Backbeat’ (1994). The venue was used to show the Beatles in the Star Club in Hamburg.
The Kilburn National was closed in 1999 and the building remained empty for a few years.
Victory Christian Centre
The VCC, an evangelical group moved into the building in July 2001. They had previously been at 339 Finchley Road but needed larger premises as the congregation grew. The site in Finchley Road was the old International College building, which has since been demolished.
When Douglas Goodman and his wife Erica, took over VCC in 1996 it had fewer than 100 members. They started a new church in Wembley and increased the congregation to 3,000. Footballer John Fashanu and his family were among the worshipers. Members contributed 10% of their income and the annual income of the VCC grew to £3.5M. Pastor Goodman, who preached in an American evangelical style, was a former bus driver. He spent lavishly on Mercedes and Porsche cars, expensive holidays, and had a large house in Collingtree Northants. The Charity Commission carried out an investigation and in December 2002 closed the church for financial mismanagement.
Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG)
The building remained empty until a second evangelical group took over the site in 2003. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God began in Rio in 1977 and spread out across the world.
Now we show some of the bands who played at the Kilburn National (This is not a complete list)
1977
Aug 24 Mungo Jerry
1978
July 24 The Bothy Band, a ‘BBC Live in Concert’ recording
1980
August 7 Dexys Midnight Runners
1981
April 28 Killing Joke and Clock DVA
1982
Feb 18 Inspiral Carpets
Feb unknown date Haircut 100
May 25 New Order, Send No Flowers, 52nd Street
August (unknown date) Feargal Sharkey
August 16 The Alarm
September The Undertones
Dec 22 The Sisters of Mercy
1985
Dec 17 Echo and the Bunnymen
1986
March 13 Psychic TV
March 19 Sigue Sigue Spuknik
March 20 The Redskins
May 8 Big Audio Dynamite
Oct 9 Housemartins
Oct 23 The Smiths, recorded as the live album ‘Rank’
November 18 Cocteau Twins
Nov 25 The Mission
Dec 4 The Pogues
1986
Dec 15 and 16 Jesus and Mary Chain
1987
April 1 and 2 Simply Red
April 29 Spear of Destiny recorded for the ‘BBC In Concert’
Flesh for Lulu
Sept 17 Stiff Little Fingers
May 3 Happy Mondays
May 13 The Alarm, Wire Train
Oct 6 That Petrol Emotion
Nov 12 Ghost Dance, Gene Loves Jezabel
1988 and 1990
The Wolfe Tones, a very popular Irish band, regularly played at The National
1988
Feb 19 The Alarm
July 14 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Oct 2 The Alarm
Dec 14 The Sugarcubes, with Bjork
John McCooke, who ran the ‘Good Ship’ in Kilburn High Road, said he was there standing next to Sinead O’Connor
Kitchens of Distinctions
Dec 21 Sigue Sigue Sputnik
1989
Feb 14 The Godfathers
Feb 20-22 The Waterboys
March 23 Sonic Youth
May 3 The Happy Mondays, The Shamen, The Band of Holy Joy, King of the Slums, Mega City Four, The Seers
May 6 The Pixies
May 9 Pop Will Eat Itself, John Moore and The Expressway
May 17 The Triffids, Kitchen of Distinction
May 18 Killing Joke
May 22 Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, Ut
May 23 Sonic Youth, Mudhoney,Sperm Wails
May 30 Tanita Tikaram
June 14 Swans, The Band of Holy Joy, The Wolfgang Press
June 21 Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, S.O.B.
June 25 Fields of Nephilim
June 28 Throwing Muses
June 29 Tin Machine, formed in 1988 and fronted by David Bowie
1989
July 5 and 6 The Pixies
Oct 3 The The
Nov 1 The Wedding Present
Nov 2 The Wedding Present, CUD
Nov 9 The Beautiful South
Nov 16 Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, Carcass
Nov 23 Eddie Shit, The Macc Lads
Dec 20 The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream
1990
Feb 20 The Mission
Feb 14 The Godfathers
March 21 and 22 The Fall
March 26 The House of Love
May 9 James
May 16 The Church, Concrete Blonde, Nuclear Valdez
May 17 Blur, Jesus Jones
June 19 The James band
June 30 Tackhead
September 19 Fugazi, Digjits
October 24 Johnny Cash
1990
Nov 1 and Nov 20 The Wedding Present
Nov 7-8 The Charlatans
Nov 15 World Party, Concrete Blonde
Nov 20 and 21 The Wedding Present
Nov 27 Snuff
Dec 12 Del Amitri
1991
March 6 Ride, Slowdive
March 13 The Farm
March 14 Birdland
April 4 Doughboys
May 3 Lush, broadcast as ‘Friday at the Dome’ on C4 with Dave Fanning and Craig Ferguson
May 12 Snuff
June 5 The Shamen
June 14 Level 42, broadcast as ‘Friday at the Dome’ on C4
August 6 Snuff
August 15 Snuff, Leatherface, Wat Tyler, Midway Stills, Senseless Things
Oct 3 Morrissey
Oct 4 The Orb
Oct 24 Blur
Oct 28 Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
Nov 1 James Taylor Quartet
Nov 7 Carter and the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Mega City Four
Dec 5 Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, Shonen Knife,Captain America
Dec 12 Levellers
Dec 18 Paul Weller
Dec 28 Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
1992
Feb 19 Inspiral Carpets
April 16 Senseless Things, Redd Kross
May 3 The Cure
1992
May 12 Kurt Cobain and Nirvana
May 20 Del Amitri
Sept 9 The Young Gods, Meat Beat Manifesto, Sheep on Drugs, The Young Gods
Oct 18 The Happy Mondays, Stereo MCs
Oct 22 Mudhoney, Leatherface,Love Battery
Oct 26 The Happy Mondays
Dec 11 Manic Street Preachers
Dec 13 Hawkwind, Moonflowers
Dec 17 Ozric Tentacles,Senser
1993
April 5 Lemonheads
1996
March 7 Baby Bird
March 7 and 8 The Lightning Seeds
May 16 Super Furry Animals, The Bluetones
July 10 Dodgy
Sept 12 Boo Radleys
Oct 9 Kula Shaker
Oct 11 Suede, Geneva
Nov 1 Reef
Nov 20 Broadcast, Sterolab
Dec 10 Beck
Dec 29 Del Amitri
1997
March 2 Beck
April 26 Johnny Cash
April 25 Mansun
Oct 24 Bush
Nov 28 Black Grape
Dec 20 Paul Weller
1999
June 18 Beta Band
The National Club closed in the Spring of 1999.