The Empire Pool / Wembley Arena Story – Part 2

 Guest post by local historian Philip Grant. Part 2 of a series.

 

1.     The newly finished Empire Pool, with the Stadium beyond, 1934. (Source: Britain from Above)

 

Welcome back for this second part of this story about Wembley Stadium’s “little brother”, the indoor sports arena originally known as the Empire Pool. As we saw in Part 1, it opened just in time to host the swimming and diving events for the 1934 British Empire Games. Its main entrance was at the western end of the building, accessed from the road which had been Raglan Gardens, but which was renamed Empire Way.

 

Although the swimming pool in summer and ice hockey/skating rink in winter were the main sporting facilities that the building was designed for, the floored-over pool soon found plenty of other uses. Before the end of 1934, it had already staged boxing and basketball matches, and a professional tennis tournament which became an annual feature. The big tennis attraction was British star, Dan Maskell, taking on top American players in the men’s singles.

 

2.     A women’s doubles match at the Empire Pool, 1930s. (Image from the internet)

 

Spectators at the Empire Pool could also enjoy a meal in its restaurant, overlooking the action from the second tier. Another attraction, on the same level, was a dance floor area, where people who had paid for public swimming or skating could relax for free after these activities, with a dance band playing each afternoon and evening. Arthur Elvin saw his new venture as a year-round centre for entertainment!

 

New sports were added to the programme in 1935, when the Empire Pool became the annual venue for the English Open Table Tennis Championships. This event drew in thousands of spectators, making a good profit. That year also saw the Amateur Athletic Association use the arena for its first indoor athletics championships, although the flat track with its tight bends was not to the satisfaction of some runners.

 

Elvin saw the chance to stage, for the first time in Britain, a new sporting event. Six-day cycle racing was proving very popular on the continent, but that would need a special banked track. He got Wembley’s team of craftsmen to build one for him! They did this in the stadium car park, designed in sections that could be carried into the building and fitted together for the event. The complete track was 178 yards (163 metres) in circumference, and cost £5,000 to construct.

 

3.     The cycle track under construction, 1936. (From an old book)

 

4.     A six-day cycle race in progress at Wembley, 1930s. (From an old book)

 

The race involved fifteen teams, each with two riders (with Dutch and Belgian professionals at the forefront), at least one of whom had to be on the track whenever the race was in progress, day and night for 143 hours. As well as the total distance covered, there were extra points to be gained during five-lap sprints every hour, as well as prize competitions for money, including for the fastest mile (ten laps of the track). The German pairing of Kilian and Vopel won the 1936 race, having ridden 1,939 miles!

 

Spectators could pay to come and watch the six-day race at any time, and many did, so that it became an annual event. But what did they do with the huge track, which filled the arena, for the other 359 days of the year? Just across the road from the Empire Pool was the former Palace of Arts building, and Elvin’s Stadium company now owned it, and used it for storage.

 

5.     European Swimming Championships programme cover, 1938. (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

By 1937, Wembley’s ice rink was welcoming the British Figure-skating Championships. The pool was being used less of the time, because events at the sports arena proved more profitable, but it was uncovered and refilled for the European Swimming Championships in August 1938. Germany, whose flag was then red, with a black swastika in a white circle, topped the medal table with 14 in total (including five gold and seven silver). 

 

The following month, Adolf Hitler’s Munich Agreement with Britain, France and Italy (but not Czechoslovakia, whose territory it gave to Germany) would pave the way for events that led to the Second World War. The bright lights that shone through the windows of the Empire Pool would have to be blacked out, and a new phase of its story began.

 

6.     The Empire Pool at night, 1930s. (From an old book)

 

When war was declared in September 1939, the Government ordered entertainment venues, such as the stadium and Empire Pool, to close, for fear of bombing raids that could kill thousands of spectators. Arthur Elvin wanted to keep his facilities going, both to generate income for his business and pay the wages of his staff, and because he could see the benefit of continuing his events for the morale of the public. He managed to buy 300 gallons of black paint, and got his workmen to paint over all 56,000 square feet of the Pool’s glass roof! Within a month, he was allowed to hold events again, although with a reduced number of spectators.

 

Regular greyhound racing meetings resumed at the stadium, but indoor events were less frequent, and often involved teams from the services, raising money for charities. In May 1940, both Wembley venues became temporary dispersal camps for British soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk, then for refugees from Belgium, Holland and France, fleeing from the German occupation of their countries, before they too could be found accommodation elsewhere.

 

7.     Civilians being evacuated from Gibraltar in 1940. (Image from the internet)

 

The Empire Pool had now been requisitioned by the Government, and stayed that way until October 1944. In July 1940 they decided that all civilians, apart from those already doing essential work for the British armed services, should be evacuated from Gibraltar, which would become a vital strategic military base at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Around 10,000 people were shipped to London, and for many their home for the next few months would be a room made of wooden partitions in the Empire Pool, with meals provided by its restaurant.

 

Elvin continued to manage the building, and allowed anyone in uniform to skate on the ice rink for free. He also worked with the Central Physical Training Council, so that they could use the arena to hold several mass PT sessions there each week, to help keep Wembley residents fit during the war.

 

8.     Programme for a Victory Gala at the Empire Pool in 1946. (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

In 1946, events at the Empire Pool gradually returned to normal, including a Victory Gala (again in aid of a charity) and a Victory Day circus for children to mark the first anniversary of the end of the war. The ice rink also welcomed back its regular ice hockey matches, with some new recruits for Wembley’s teams.

 

9.     A Wembley Monarchs programme and photo of three new players. (Images from the internet)

 

By 1947, Arthur Elvin had offered Wembley’s facilities so that London could stage the 1948 Olympic Games. In order promote public interest in the forthcoming multi-sports competitions, the British Olympic Association staged an international competition at the Empire Pool in July 1947.

 

 

 10.  Programme for the July 1947 International Sports Contest. (Image from the internet)

 

A year later, it was time for “the real thing”, with the opening ceremony of the XIVth Olympiad, London 1948, taking place on 29 July 1948. The swimming pool at the Empire Pool was brought back into use, first for the swimming and diving events, and the finals of the water polo competition. Then the Wembley team erected a bridge across the pool, with a boxing ring at the centre of it, for the Olympics boxing matches. Every day saw the Pool’s seats packed with spectators, and the BBC’s new cameras used to broadcast the events (to those in reach of its transmitters, and who were wealthy enough to afford a television set).

 

11.  Olympic swimming at the Empire Pool, August 1948. (Source: Brent Archives)

 

 

12.  Olympic boxing at the Empire Pool, August 1948. (Source: Brent Archives)

 

The 1948 Olympic Games were the last time that the swimming pool here was ever used. From then onwards the Empire Pool would become just an indoor arena – but not just for sports! I look forward to sharing the next part of its story with you, in words and pictures, next weekend.

 

Philip Grant.

The Empire Pool / Wembley Arena Story – Part 1

 Guest post, by local historian Philip Grant. Look out for Part 2 on Saturday July 27th.

 

1.     The Empire Pool in 1934.
(Source: Brent Archives – Wembley History Society Collection)

 

I’ve been writing and speaking about the British Empire Exhibition (“BEE”) in this, its centenary year, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Empire Pool (now better known as Wembley Arena) was built for that event. But it was actually constructed ten years later, and 25 July 2024 is the 90^th anniversary of its opening. Why and how it was built, and the variety of events that have taken place there since it opened, are a story that deserves to be told. That is what I aim to do in this short series of articles.

 

2.     Arthur Elvin. (Image from the internet)

 

Arthur Elvin had already earned his place in Wembley’s history by buying, and saving from demolition, the former Exhibition’s Empire Stadium. By 1929, as Chairman and Managing Director of the Wembley Stadium and Greyhound Racecourse Company Ltd, he was welcoming large crowds to the stadium to watch regular greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway meetings, as well as hosting the annual F.A. Cup and Rugby League Challenge Cup finals. The company had also acquired much of the former Exhibition site.

 

Elvin wanted to expand Wembley’s sporting attractions, and by 1932 was planning to use part of that land for an indoor sports stadium. In order to pay for itself, this facility would need year-round use, which would also help to provide full-time employment for the company’s 400 staff. One of his team suggested that he should go and see a new sport for this country, introduced from Canada. Having watched an England v Canada ice hockey match, Elvin was determined that Wembley would have its own team, skating on its own rink. 

 

3.     The site chosen for the indoor stadium, marked on a 1924 BEE plan.

 

The ambitious plans for the new building included a large swimming pool, which could be floored over for indoor sports, including an ice rink during the winter months. The designer chosen for the project was Sir Owen Williams, the expert on reinforced concrete who had been behind the construction of the Stadium and Palaces of Industry and Engineering for the 1924 Exhibition. Concrete provided both speed of construction, and the ability to span a building that would be 240 feet wide, without supporting pillars.

 

4.     An article by Sir Owen Williams from the 1925 booklet “Wembley: The First City of Concrete”.
(Source: Brent Archives)

 

The company had no trouble raising the £170,000 it needed to finance the project, and work got underway in November 1933. Even though Sir Owen’s plans took advantage of the western end of the BEE’s lake, they still needed to dig out 30,000 tons of clay, before they could actually start constructing the building. It was 15 February 1934 before Lord Derby could “lay the foundation stone” – but because of the building’s design, it had to be cast with liquid concrete!

 

 

 

 5. Lord Derby “laying the foundation stone”, 15 February 1934. (From an old book)

 

6.     The Empire Pool under construction in 1934. (From an old book)

 

Soon there were 800 men working on the site, erecting a mass of scaffolding and the formwork, in which to pour 20,000 tons of concrete. The design of the beams across the roof of the building enabled the weight of the roof to be balanced out by heavier sections beyond the side walls, with vertical columns holding the ends in place. In between the beams was space for 56,000 square feet (5,200 square metres) of glass, which along with huge windows at the end of the building allowed the pool to be lit by natural light during the day.

 

The pool itself was 200 feet (61 metres) long and 85 feet (26 metres) wide, with a maximum depth, at the diving board end, of 16½ feet (5 metres). When finished, it needed 700,000 gallons of water to fill the pool, which was pumped direct from the Colne Valley over the space of ten days, then passed through the pools own filtration and purification system. Incredibly, the whole building and its facilities were ready to be opened by July 1934.

 

7.     Arthur Elvin (right) and Sir Owen Williams (centre) taking the Duke of Gloucester (tall man!) on a tour of the building on 25 July 1934. (From an old book)

 

The official opening was carried by the Duke of Gloucester (the third son of King George V and Queen Mary) on 25 July 1934. The building was named the Empire Pool and Sports Arena, at least partly because the swimming events for the 1934 British Empire Games were about to be held there, between 4 and 10 August, although there was just time before that for an opening event to test the facilities. 

 

8.     Leaflet publicising the Pool’s Opening Meeting, 27 July 1934. (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

The Games had first been held in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1930. The British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 had brought people from over 50 nations together, ‘to meet on common ground and learn to know each other’. A Canadian journalist, covering the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, had the idea that a similar event for people from across the Empire, again at four-year intervals, would help to further that aim through sport. He helped to organise the first British Empire Games in his home city, when 11 nations sent competitors.

 

The second edition of the British Empire Games in 1934 was originally planned to take place in Johannesburg, but some countries protested that their competitors would be excluded because of South Africa’s apartheid policies. London stepped in, hosting 16 nations, with the athletics events staged at the White City Stadium (where the 1908 Olympic Games had been held). Wembley’s brand-new Empire Pool, with seating for 5,000 spectators, and a wooden pontoon across the shallow end to create the correct length of 55 yards (50 metres), was ideal for the aquatic competitions.

 

9.     Advert for public swimming at the Empire Pool (from the back cover of a 1934 Games programme). (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

 

10.  Public swimming at the Empire Pool, 1930s. (From an old book)

 

The Empire Pool was up and running, with public swimming proving very popular for the rest of the summer, but come the autumn it was time for a change. It took twelve days to drain the pool, install a scaffolding structure to fill the void and a thick wooden flooring over it to create an indoor sports arena, ready for Elvin’s ice hockey team, given the same name as the Stadium’s speedway team, the Wembley Lions.

 

11.  The Wembley Lions ice hockey team, 1930s. (Courtesy of Geoff Lane)

 

In fact, from October 1934 the Empire Pool had two national ice hockey league teams, playing matches on Thursdays and Saturdays. The rink where the Grosvenor House Canadians used to play had just closed, so they became the Wembley Canadians, with their name soon changing to the Wembley Monarchs. And when the ice rink was not being used for hockey matches or practice, it was available for skating, with 600,000 payments for public use of the ice during the first winter alone!

 

12.  A public skating session at the Empire Pool, 1930s. (From an old book)

 

Swimming and ice hockey/skating were far from the only sports that the Empire Pool and Arena catered for, and I will share more of these with you in the next part of its story. I hope you will join me again for that.

 

Philip Grant.

 

Part 2 will be published on Saturday July 27th 2024.