Apollo Music Hall

The Apollo Music Hall in Bethnal Green was once a bustling entertainment venue attached to the Red Cross public house on Hare Street. Built in 1854 at a cost of three thousand pounds, this space could hold up to six hundred people at its peak. During the week, it served as a lively stage where local audiences would watch performers mimic popular comic songs to the accompaniment of a three-piece orchestra. On Sundays, however, the atmosphere shifted entirely when the building hosted Salvation Army services that included gospel singing. This quick transformation from a rowdy music hall to a place of worship highlights the varied and often conflicting roles that public houses played in nineteenth-century East London life.