The Queen’s Hall destroyed by bombing

Image: The Australian composer Hubert Clifford, Sir Henry Wood, founder of the Promenade Concerts, and composer John Gough survey the wreckage of the Queen's Hall, London on 10th May 1941.

The Queen's Hall - located in Langham Place - was the premier concert hall in pre-war London. It was the home of the BBC Symphony and the London Philharmonic Orchestras. Every year it hosted the Promenade Concerts and its excellent acoustics and proximity to Broadcasting House made it ideal for outside broadcasts. On the night of 10 May 1941 the Queen’s Hall was hit by a single incendiary bomb and completely gutted. Nobody was killed but the venue’s days came to an abrupt end.

The 1939 Proms season had been brought to a close by the outbreak of war and the 1940 season not broadcast at all. But as the war progressed it became clear people wanted to hear music more than ever. After the destruction of the Queen’s Hall the determination for the Proms to continue saw them relocated to the Royal Albert Hall.

They were still titled the Queen’s Hall Promenade Concerts as Sir Henry Wood hoped the hall would be rebuilt. In the end the BBC broadcast 20 concerts in the 1941 season, including a special Anglo-American concert that was later heard in America.

Today the site of the Queen’s Hall is marked by a commemorative plaque. The BBC Proms are thriving at the Royal Albert Hall and every year a bronze bust of Sir Henry Wood - rescued from the ruins of the Queen’s Hall - is given pride of place on the stage.