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City of London Corporation
The London Archives

Theatres and Music Hall records in London

Research Guide

1. About this guide

This guide outlines the records available at The London Archives for researching the history of theatres and music halls in London. The core material can be found in our local government collections. They were responsible for the licensing and regulation of theatres and music halls in London.

2. Local government records

2.1 How were theatres and music halls licensed and regulated?

As a result of the Licensing Act of 1737, all new plays had to be vetted by the Lord Chamberlain. Spoken drama was limited to the patent theatres, originally at Drury Lane and Covent Garden. This Act was amended by the Theatres Act of 1843 which enabled other theatres to present spoken drama (although the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship of plays continued until 1968). Places of entertainment could now apply two types of licences. This led to a distinction between theatres and music halls.

Stage play licence

To perform drama, all theatres in the Cities of London and Westminster, and the boroughs of Finsbury, Marylebone, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth and Southwark, had to apply for a Lord Chamberlain’s licence. Outside this jurisdiction, theatres could apply for a stage play licence from the Justices of the Peace sitting at quarter sessions. Under this licence, drinking and smoking was not allowed in the auditorium.

Music and dancing licence

This type of licence was introduced under the Disorderly Houses Act of 1751. It required all places of entertainment and houses used for music and dancing in London and Westminster (and a twenty-mile radius) to obtain a licence from Justices of the Peace sitting at quarter sessions. This licence did not allow venues to perform spoken drama.

Further regulation was put in place with the passing of the Metropolis Management and Building Acts Amendment Act of 1878. This meant no new theatre or music hall in London could be licensed without first being inspected by the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) and issued with a safety certificate.

In 1889, the newly established county councils (ie the London County Council and Middlesex County Council) took over the licensing powers of the quarter sessions. They regulated theatres and music halls, including inspections looking at building safety and the behaviour of performers and audience members.

2.2 Core Records

Here are the key records for each authority:

Middlesex and Westminster Quarter Sessions:

  • Applications for music and dancing licences up to 1837 can be found in the Middlesex and Westminster sessions papers in MJ/SP and WJ/SP. Further applications and licences are under MR/L/MD.

Metropolitan Board of Works:

London County Council:

Middlesex County Council:

Greater London Council:

  • Building act case files contain planning applications submitted to Greater London Council and its predecessors. To find relevant plans, please search our catalogue for the name of the property or architect. To browse, please search for ‘theatres building act case file’ or ‘music halls building act case file’.
  • Minutes and reports of the Licensing Committee, 1964 to 1968 in GLC/DG/MIN/127 and GLC/DG/PRE/127, Public Services Committee: Entertainments Sub Committee, 1968 to 1977 in GLC/DG/MIN/190 and GLC/DG/PRE/190, Public Services and Safety Committee: Entertainments Sub Committee, 1977 to 1981 in GLC/DG/MIN/185 and GLC/DG/PRE/185 and Public Services and Fire Brigade Committee: Entertainments Sub Committee, 1981 to 1986 in GLC/DG/MIN/177 and GLC/DG/PRE/177.

3. Further records at The London Archives

  • The Bedford estate papers (refernce E/BER) include many records on theatres including architectural plans and drawings of Covent Garden Theatre, Drury Lane and Aldwych Theatres.
  • The West family papers (reference F/WST) include a bundle of early nineteenth century letters from the box office keeper of Covent Garden Theatre.
  • Cook Collection of Theatrical and Miscellaneous Papers (reference ACC/0595) comprises playbills, programmes, librettos and newspaper cuttings for several London theatres, dating from 1859 to 1865.
  • The diaries of Anthony Heap (reference ACC/2243) include reviews of theatre performances from 1928 to 1985.
  • Postcards of theatres, music halls and vaudeville performers in London and the suburbs in LMA/4237.
  • The Noble Collection of ephemera (reference  SC/GL/NOB) contains cuttings relating to a number of London theatres and music halls.
  • We have a large collection of uncatalogued playbills and programmes for London theatres under reference codes SC/GL/PPB and SC/GL/PPC. These are arranged by venue rather than performer or performance and date from the late eighteenth century onwards. Please contact the team for further information.
  • Prints and photographs relating to theatres and music halls can be found on the London Picture Archive.

Amateur dramatic collections

Some of our Amateur dramatic collections include:

4. Books, Journals and Newspapers

In our Library, we have lots of books and journals which cover London’s theatres and music halls. For a full list, please search our library catalogue and narrow the results to ‘The London Archives’ and ‘Books’. Many of the most popular titles can be found by searching for the shelf marks 44.18 and 44.2.

'The Gentleman’s Magazine' is a useful source for theatrical gossip and critical reviews of performances. It includes a monthly theatrical register which details performances being staged at London theatres. The library holds copies from 1731 to 1868 under the reference '66.6 GEN'.

Architectural journals such as ‘The Builder’ can contain plans and reports on renovations and alterations to places of public entertainment. Many of these journals are indexed on the Royal Institute of British Architects’ RIBA library catalogue.

Newspapers can reveal a lot of information about theatres, music halls and their performances. Many have been digitised and made available on the British Newspaper Archive (subscription required). Some of the most useful titles are:

5. Records held elsewhere

The following archives have significant collections on London's theatres and music halls: