I discovered Wilton’s Music Hall.

Completely by accident I recently made one of the best discoveries I’ve made so far in London. Well, I guess most great discoveries I made by complete accident – such as the Columbia Road Flower Market , all the little shops there and the wonderful café in Vintage Heaven.

This time we took a walk through our neighborhood, where we’ve walked loads of times without ever noticing the sign leading to “Wilton’s Music Hall” before. It guided us to a little backstreet that looked completely out of place in the rather rough Tower Hamlets area it’s placed in. In the middle of the backstreet, Grace’s Alley, we found Wilton’s Music Hall, the oldest music hall in London. Today it’s used not only for music (mainly classical, but sometimes even modern popular acts such as The Coral are playing there), but also for performance in general, magic shows, theatre or cinema evenings with local movies.

It all started in 1827 with the Mahagony Bar, a bar place right next to the music hall. The music hall itself was built in 1858, from that point on the Mahagony Bar served as an entrance to the main hall. And as such it still works today.

I haven’t had the pleasure yet to visit the music hall itself, but we’ve been to the Mahagony Bar. There’s always a band playing Monday nights for free and the bar is probably the most beautiful bar I’ve seen in London so far. It looks like the time just stopped there for a while, as if it’s still 1827 – just with a bit of electricity.

The rooms next to the bar are truly nice as well, it’s like a small little new world unfolds behind every door.

And if the weather is nice, the outside area is just as nice.

So make sure you’ll visit the Mahagony Bar next time, have a glass of wine and listen to some nice music.

And then join the facebook group: I discovered Wilton’s Music Hall.

One of London’s best kept secrets.

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