Stand in St Martin’s Lane and look across to the Coliseum. Amazing isn’t it? Now look to the right and you will just make out a narrow gap between the theatre and the next building. This is the narrowest alley in London and is called Brydges Place. It is not as old as it seems and has a story to tell.
Designed by Frank Matcham, the Coliseum was opened on 24th December 1904, as a variety theatre. The idea for the theatre went back to 1902 when Oswald Stoll started buying up buildings at the southern end of St Martin’s Lane. The Coliseum occupies a 3/4 acre site, of what was once a large mass of dwellings with connecting alleys.
What is now Brydges Place was once Taylor’s Buildings and was, going from the 1870 map wider than what we have now. So now walk along the alley, the entrance at St Martin’s Lane is literally only wide enough for one person. It gets a bit wider in the middle and then narrows again towards the Bedfordbury end, though not as narrow as the St Martin’s Lane entrance.
You walk past the backs of two pubs that have frontages on Chandos Place and it is here we start to get some clues. Look up and you will see a series of wooden boards each proclaiming ANCIENT LIGHTS. What is going on?
These signs refer to the right of those pubs to daylight, by restricting the erection of adjoining buildings too close to existing windows. They are a clear sign to the builders of the Coliseum, do not come too close. So in ensuring daylight, this ancient right of way has been kept, but only just.
