Brick Lane Music Hall has pulled off an amazing double at the National Coach Awards 2013.
Up against all the major tourist destinations across the UK, Brick Lane Music Hall has been voted the Nation’s Most Friendly Tourist Attraction for coach groups and was voted runner-up for the overall title of Best Tourist Attraction in the UK.
Ian Smith, Commercial Director of the UK Coach Awards, said “You should be proud and very pleased, as it’s the group travel organisers themselves who nominated Brick Lane Music Hall.”
The Awards Ceremony took place on Saturday April 20th as part of a National Coach Rally weekend held at Alton Towers. Brick Lane Music Hall was represented by Sue and Charlie Talks who live in Staffordshire and were on hand to collect the award while their daughter, Joni was one of the artists appearing in a Saturday night Music Hall show back at Brick Lane Music Hall in Silvertown. The news of the Music Hall’s success came in as Joni was actually singing live on stage. Vincent Hayes announced the news of Brick Lane Music Hall being chosen as winners of The Most Friendly Tourist Attraction on stage to ecstatic audience and staff members.
“I knew we had been shortlisted for the award, but really thought that was amazing enough,” said Vincent. “I honestly never in a million years expected to win, as we were up against such major competition. Other venues on the shortlist were Cadbury World, the York Chocolate Story and Longleat. I suppose it just goes to show, you can’t beat a good old traditional East End welcome.”
Announcing Brick Lane Music Hall as winners of the Award, the judges said that they felt the venue was a most worthy winner and was deserving of wider recognition.
Then, after the show, came the news that Brick Lane Music Hall had also been voted runners up to Chatsworth House for overall Best UK Tourist Attraction!
As Vincent Hayes points out, “This is a coveted award. It takes in every theatre and every venue and every attraction across the whole of the UK, rewarding excellence and good practice. And to receive such major recognition for our theatre- well, I am still taking it in!”
And the Winner Is!! UK Coach Awards Ceremony, hosted by Carol Kirkwood.
Charlie and Sue Talks at the Awards Ceremony
As our all new St Patrick’s show opened with a week of matinee performances, one of our regular groups from Kent, GRAVARA, came along to see the first show. After the show, the Chairman of the group, Clive Bushell, couldn’t wait to phone us to tell us that they have been to Brick Lane Music Hall many times – and today’s show was the best they have ever seen! He also sent us an email:
“I had to write this e-mail from all of the 25 members of GRAVARA who attended yesterday afternoon’s performance of your show, IT WAS FANTASTIC. All of the performers did a fantastic job and made a very enjoyable afternoon. I have to congratulate Paul James (BBC Radio Kent) particularly on the performance Vincent and he did, dressed as the two ladies, it was hilarious. Great Show, and thank you again.”
The St Patrick’s Irish Show stars Vincent Hayes, Paul James, Andrew Robley, Joni Talks, Hayley-Jo Whitney, Saskia Brynne and Alan McHale and plays until March 28th.
March is always a time of change, and as our annual pantomime came to a triumphant end with an uprorious last night, we launched our Spring season with a music hall matinee, starring Vincent Hayes, Paul James, Andrew Robley, Joni Talks and guest artist Peter John.
Among the guests, it was a pleasure to welcome a group of our regular visitors, the amazing Red Hatters, who came by coach from Norfolk. They describe themselves as ”a feisty, funky group of women, from all backgrounds and experience, who are dedicated to growing older disgracefully”….. and we have to say, we enjoyed the afternoon as much as they did! They sent us a link to their website, so we thought we would report back some of the things they said about their day. This is a list of comments from individual members:
“This was the Hoot of ALL Hoots!”
“The best Red Hat day out EVER”……
“Can we go back and do it all over again?”…..
“I’ve never laughed so much in my life before”…..
“Not only was it the best ever Red Hat Hoot, it was one of the Best Days in my Life!!!”….
“What a wonderful day”….
“Fantastic”….
“What a day”.
The Red Hatters “Day Out”, Brick Lane Music Hall, March 2013
Following his nomination in the Queen’s New Year’s Honour’s List for an MBE, Vincent Hayes has attended Buckingham Palace for his investiture.
Vincent was joined by his wife, Joanne, and two daughters, Erin and Lucy (pictured below). After the ceremony, Vincent popped back to the Music Hall for a matinee show. During the show, he was presented with a special MBE cake, made by Front of House Manager, Suzanne Plumb.
Vincent has been overwhelmed by the messages of congratulations that have been received from customers and friends of the Music Hall. We are all extremely proud that his efforts over the years to establish Brick Lane Music Hall without any form of public subsidy and to create a theatre that genuinely serves a community have been recognised in this way and that music hall itself has been recognised at this level.
There is more to read about this in our new 2013 programme. You can pick up your copy next time you come to a show!
As the messages of congratulations flood in following the announcement of Vincent’s MBE award, we have another cause for celebration at Brick Lane Music Hall, our 21st Birthday!
Brick Lane Music Hall began life in Brick Lane itself in the former Truman’s Brewery in February 1992! Many of the team, including Zara and Joanne, have been with Vincent since the outset, as well as artists like Peter John and Brian Walker. Michael and Suzanne also joined the team in those early days, when we packed people into a much smaller space, with shows perhaps once or twice a week, mostly in the evenings. Twenty one years later…. and we have almost twice the space, shows up to 6 times a week, with lunchtime, afternoon and evening shows, many of which are booked up already until Spring 2014.
There have been many milestones over the years, but none greater than receiving recognition from the highest authority in the land, Her Majesty the Queen, for Vincent’s services to British Music Hall in his acheivement in creating Brick Lane Music Hall and the huge pleasure it brings to so many.
Brick Lane Music Hall can truly be said to have come of age. We hope you will get the chance to join us in what will be a whole year of celebration!
Pictured: Magnificent cake presented by the Tower Ward Club (top) and Now showing at Brick Lane Music Hall until March 2nd – Aladdin, our “pantomime for grown-ups”, pictured, left to right, Paul Harris, Vincent Hayes, Paul James and Andrew Robley. Also appearing are Chris Emmett and Saskia Brynne.
We are extremely proud to announce that comedian, impressario and founder of Brick Lane Music Hall, Vincent Hayes has been named by the Queen in this year’s New Year’s Honours’ list, and will receive the distinguished award of M.B.E for his services to British Music Hall and for his achievement in founding Brick Lane Music Hall which serves the community of Silvertown and beyond in so many ways. Vincent will receive the award at a ceremony later this year.
People who came to see our wartime show this week were not only treated to a magnificent show, but also to a surprise when Paul O’Grady made a special appearance at Brick Lane Music Hall. Paul was invited by Vincent Hayes to perform a music hall ditty “She was poor but she was honest” which will be shown on BBC tv in the Spring as part of a new series being made by Paul. The programme is also set to feature part of the show and interviews with Vincent and regular audience members. Thank you so much to all those who took part.
The wartime show, There’ll Always Be An England – a Wartime Music Hall Show, continues for the whole of next week, leading up to Remembrance Sunday, when Brick Lane Music Hall hosts a service with the laying of wreaths around the memorial, led by the Silvertown British Legion. All welcome.
In 2013 Brick Lane Music Hall will be celebrating its 21st birthday and we hope we are very much “coming of age”, with music hall entertainment fit for our times. Our most recent show, Welcome to the London Palladium, pictured below, celebrated 20th Century variety, as entertainment made its transition from stage to television, with so many stars becoming household names through the new medium. Our new show Oo La La, Brick Lane Music Hall goes French! being innovative as well as current, is a tongue-in-cheek blend of modern day comedy with our own version of song and dance routines from such French masterpieces as La Cage Aux Folles and Les Miserables.
We would like to say a heartfelt “thank you” to all those who take the trouble to give us feedback after their visit to Brick Lane Music Hall. We take on board all comments and use them to continue to develop our shows and to provide more of what we hope you will enjoy for years to come.
Here are just a few of the comments from some of our customers about their most recent visit to Welcome to the London Palladium:
Yet another superb show. We just love Brick Lane. Don’t know how you manage to come up with something new, special and successful every time. John & Betty Tee
A fantastic day out. I took my mum to the Palladium show. Great performances and atmosphere, what a wonderful venue and a lovely welcome from your friendly hardworking staff. We will be back. Shaun Arrowsmith
I’m still smiling and still glowing after that show. It was a true tribute to the Palladium; a fast-moving Variety show with lots of comedy, excellent singing and slick choreography – it was brilliant entertainment and such a credit to you all. Congratulations one and all, you deserve it! Chris Emmett
Many congratulations – you have a definite hit on your hands with the new Palladium show, which was excellent! The vocalist is quite superb. The girls gave a touch of glamour and sang and danced well. What you have at Brick Lane, which is something unique, is the atmosphere – it’s like an over-sized family knees-up – a good old party, with all the neighbours in! You can’t help feeling happy and everyone leaves with a smile on their face. You can be sure WE SHALL RETURN!! June Brewer
