Mean Fiddler

24 High Street,
London, NW10

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Harlesden Palace, Picture Theatre

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Located in the west London inner city district of Harlesden. The Harlesden Palace was opened in November 1911 with a 500 seating capacity. By 1912, it had been re-named Picture Theatre and was operated by Mr J. Thorning. It operated as a cinema until around 1922.

I have no record of what it became used for, but in the early-1980’s it was purchased by Vince Power and he re-opened it as the Mean Fiddler on 9th December 1982. Over the years it established itself as one of London’s cutting edge music venues, with name artists appearing on stage include; The Pogues, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, Christy Moore, Paul Brady, Los Lobos, Billy Bragg, Erasure, Nick Cave, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.

The 600 capacity venue was closed in 2002. It stayed unused until 2007, when the Mean Fiddler group was purchased by the Mama Group and refurbishment was planned. The venue remains closed in 2009.

Contributed by Ken Roe

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

keiths
keiths on November 17, 2009 at 12:11 pm

I believe the place was finally closed following complaints about noise pollution, which might well have some bearing on possible future uses.

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