Imperial Studios

Films have been made in London since 1898.

Its history is marked by famous names few of which survive today. In 1898 three companies were founded: the Warwick Trading Company (in Warwick Court), Gaummont-British Picture Corp (in Lime Grove Studios) and Hepworth Studios in Lambeth.

Others followed of which many are footnotes in the history of cinema but some are still household names: Ealing Studios (1902), The Ideal Film Company in Soho (1911), Elstree Studios (1914), Islington Studios (1920). In the 1930s Alexander Korda founded London Films, using Denham Film Studios, Hammer Film Productions was launched and J Arthur Rank and others created Pinewood Studios.

The importance of Britain in many industries has diminished but London has retained its place as a world leader in the production of films for cinema and TV. It’s hard to take a walk in London without tripping over the cabling issuing from fleets of film production lorries and trailers. Downton Abbey is saturated with London locations; the Inns of Court, Rules and the Criterion restaurants, Belgrave Square, the RAC and Savile clubs to name a few I recognise.

So it was exciting to stumble on Imperial Studios in Imperial Road, Fulham, yesterday. “Imperial and “Empire” are toxic words. Although Imperial College and Imperial Leather are impervious to the re-writing of history, Imperial Chemical Industries, Phillips-Imperial Petroleum, Imperial Airways, British Empire Trust and Empire Stores (the first catalogue shopping company in Britain) are no longer with us.

In Fulham a new station opened in 2009: Imperial Wharf. It serves the swanky Chelsea Harbour development with an overground line to less salubrious destinations: Stratford in East London, Willesden and Clapham Junction. Despite the signage, Imperial Wharf is not on the tube. It’s sneaky to use the Underground rondel and insert Overground.

And what of Imperial Studios? It will be demolished to make way for an anodyne development of offices and flats. And Imperial Studios place in London’s rich history of film production? I invented a back story in which the studios played a leading role. The truth is mundane. Imperial Studios was built in the 1930s as a depot and offices for the Gas Light and Coke Company, founded in Horseferry Road in 1812. My dreams of a glamorous history for Imperial Studios lie shattered; dissolved in a slow fade-out. I should have known better.