Time Walk
A Side Street With a Cinema's Ghost
A corner cinema here once brought Laurel and Hardy to Brixton; now there is nothing to mark where it stood. Walking the street today, a visitor notices a listed Victorian house, a former hall in heavy brickwork, and the converted shell of an old warehouse. Nothing above ground announces the theatre that drew crowds here for most of the twentieth century.
Beneath the quiet fronts lies a run of buildings that changed use again and again — a hall, a department store depot, a cinema turned bingo hall turned rubble. That restlessness, and the chemist whose name the street still carries, are where this walk begins.
Name Origin
The Chemist of Acre House
The street is named after Professor Albert James Bernays, a chemist who lived at Acre House, No. 2 Brixton Hill, until his death in 1892. He was not, it seems, a resident of the street itself, but of the grander house nearby on Brixton Hill.
Early directories recorded the name as "Bernays Grove", without an apostrophe. At some point an apostrophe was inserted, producing the form used today — a change the sources describe as an error rather than a correction.
History
A Hall, a Depot, a Listed House
Three older buildings still mark the street's Victorian character. Brixton Lodge, at No. 1 Bernay's Grove, was listed Grade II in 1981. Close by stands the former Tunstall Hall, a nineteenth-century hall in heavy brickwork, valued for sitting well alongside No. 1. A third survivor, the Brighton Terrace Piano House, is a converted warehouse that once served as a depository for the Bon Marché department store. The backs of the Brixton Road shops that meet the street, by contrast, add little to the scene.
Culture
Laurel and Hardy on the Corner
The theatre lived several more lives after the duo's visit. In 1957 it became a Granada cinema, and some years later a bingo hall — 1966 by one account, the 1970s by another. The building was demolished in 1992.
Today
What Remains
Brixton Lodge still stands at No. 1, carrying its 1981 listing. The former Tunstall Hall and the Brighton Terrace Piano House, the old Bon Marché depository, remain beside it, their brick fronts the clearest surviving trace of the street's Victorian working life. Of the Empress Theatre, demolished in 1992, there is nothing left to see.
On the Map
Bernay's Grove Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Bernay's Grove?
It is named after Professor Albert James Bernays, a chemist who lived at Acre House, 2 Brixton Hill, until his death in 1892. Early directories spelled it "Bernays Grove"; an apostrophe was later inserted incorrectly, giving the modern form.
What is Bernay's Grove known for?
It was home to the Empress Theatre, built in 1898 on the corner with Brighton Terrace, which hosted Laurel and Hardy in November 1953 before later becoming a Granada cinema, a bingo hall, and finally being demolished in 1992.
Are there any listed buildings on Bernay's Grove?
Yes. Brixton Lodge, at No. 1 Bernay's Grove, was listed Grade II on 21 July 1981. The street also retains the former Tunstall Hall and the Brighton Terrace Piano House, a converted nineteenth-century warehouse.