London's beautiful boxing arena was KO'd by Hitler...

'The prettiest open-air boxing arena in the world' was how Boxing (forerunner to today's Boxing News) described the Alcazar, Edmonton, a leading London fight arena of the 1920s and '30s devastated in 1940 by a Luftwaffe bomb.

Opened on 28 June 1913, the Alcazar was a cinema sited on the west side of Fore Street in Edmonton, almost opposite Fairfield Road and just a few yards north of Angel Road. The building was whitewashed and alcoved to look like a Moorish palace, and in the winter boxing was held in a large ballroom behind and adjoining it.

What made the venue exceptional, however, were the picturesque gardens behind the cinema. When the weather was warm fights were held outside in a ring that stood amid sloping grass banks, fruit trees in full bloom, flower beds and a stream. The ground was a sort of amphitheatre, bound by the stately trees in the gardens of the adjacent well-to-do houses that stretched to the railway line, which ran from Liverpool Street to Enfield Town.

On balmy summer evenings thousands sat in deckchairs or on grass around the ring; their sporadic yells rivalling the roar heard up the road at White Hart Lane whenever 'Spurs scored a goal. As daylight faded, the gardens were lit up by countless coloured fairy lamps, which gave the shows a special ambience. Outdoor fights were usually advertised with the proviso 'In Hall if Wet', but in the colder months all fights were held indoors.

Continue reading:

http://blog.boxinghistory.org.uk/2011/09/londons-beautiful-boxing-arena-was-kod.html

Great stuff, I think you do Hitler a dis-service though as he clearly wasn't directly responsible.

Nice one mate, I hadn't heard about this before, sounds like it would have been terrific.

Cheers guys.

Union Cane wrote:Great stuff, I think you do Hitler a dis-service though as he clearly wasn't directly responsible.

True, but 'London's beautiful boxing arena was TKO'd by Hitler' sounds less dramatic.

Haha, good response - I'd stick with the KO.

How's the site coming on, mate?

Fists of Fury wrote:Haha, good response - I'd stick with the KO.

How's the site coming on, mate?

It's coming along well thanks, mate. We're hoping to launch this side of Christmas. There'll be lots of previously unpublished British champions' fight records going up. I'm personally looking forward to seeing them all side by side, to make comparisons and draw some conclusions as to who our best fighters were at each weight.

Will keep you posted.