Places of Interest
Little Venice and the Grand Union Canal
Originally titled the Grand Junction Canal, the 13 mile long Paddington Arm was opened on July 1801. A packet boat passenger service from Greenford to Uxbridge was in use for 10 years, with boats leaving Paddington Basin at eight o’clock every morning during the summer months and returning in the evening. The return fare was 2s 6d.
The construction of wharves and sheds to service the increasing produce soon transformed Paddington from a quiet village into a thriving community. It was the Lord Byron who contrasted the area to Venice and since the Second World War the name Little Venice has become common usage.
Canalway Cavalcade
Canalway Cavalcade is a major annual event organised by the Inland Waterways Association. It is held over the early May Bank Holiday weekend and combines a boat rally with a trade show and a wide range of activities and entertainments. With well over 100 boats, the Canalway Cavalcade claims the title of London’s premier waterway event.
BBC Studios
The early 1930s saw the BBC searching for space to accommodate for the full BBC Symphony Orchestra. The potential of the former Maida Vale Roller Skating Palace on Delaware Road was spotted and over a 15 month period one hundred men reduced the building to a shell and reconstructed it. The Maida Vale studios, now the BBC’s principal musical home, opened in 1934 with five studios and the most modern broadcasting facilities available. On 16 October 1934 the BBC Symphony Orchestra broadcast its first concert from the new centre.
During the Second World War the government made plans to ensure that information channels were adequately protected – including the BBC’s Maida Vale studios. The studios were also used for making programmes for Europe via the erstwhile commercial Radio Normandie.
Beatles-mania hit Maida Vale when the Beatles’ recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios. A double CD ‘Live at the BBC’ including some of the material from the Beatles’ sessions at the Maida Vale studios was issued in 1994.