It was a big coincidence but the London Hippodrome Casino celebrated its 125th anniversary – technically its quasquicentennial – on the same night that its Lola’s Bar was filled with casino industry luminaries.
On Wednesday, January 15th, Hippodrome chairman Simon Thomas welcomed the glitterati of the casino industry to a networking event associated with the new London Casino and Gaming Show, at which the results of that day’s UK Dealers’ Championships – fought out at the exhibition – were to be announced.
In the event, Les Ambassadeurs Bill Clark won the title, but closely followed by the Hippodrome’s own Matthew Taylor.
Opening proceedings, Simon Thomas welcomed guests with the news that the day fell on exactly the date that the Hippodrome originally opened in 1900.
The building, on the corner Leicester Square, was built by Moss Empires for £250,000 for circus and variety performances and its first performance was on that date – January 15. It was equipped with a proscenium stage and arena that sank into a 230ft, 100,000-gallon water tank for aquatic spectacles.
Shows included music hall acts, but also equestrian performances and elephants, polar bears and acrobatics.
The building was reconstructed in 1910 for music hall and variety with 1,340 seats and featured the British premier of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake ballet among other notable milestones. It became The Talk of the Town in 1958, hosting many international stars of stage and screen.
It was renovated again and opened as The London Hippodrome by night club tycoon Peter Stringfellow in 1983 but it subsequently fell out of fashion, lost its alcohol licence and closed in 2005. It secured a theatre licence in 2008 under new owners, successfully for a time before Simon Thomas and his late father Jimmy, acquired the lease and restored the building.
Reportedly, Jimmy and Simon sold off their bingo hall chain and other investments to sink £40m into the Hippodrome and it was reopened as a casino in 2012 by London Mayor Boris Johnson. It has gone on to win many awards, including Best Land-based Casino and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Jimmy Thomas.