Arch Climbing are renovating the Old Gala Bingo Hall in Acton into their third and largest UK centre.
The Grade II Listed building was first opened in 1937 and was re-named the Granada theatre, after its new owners, in 1946. However, it was converted into a bingo hall in 1972 and recently let out to Destiny Christian Centre Ministries who vacated in Spring 2016. Arch Climbing acquired the space in 2017 and announced that work had begun on the 28th February 2018 via Facebook.
Arch Climbing specialises in bouldering, a unique indoor climbing sport which does not employ harnesses and is seen as a fun alternative to working out at the gym. The walls are typically at least 4 metres high and are over safety mats, with each wall containing a unique problem regularly re-arranged by a team of route-setters.
The building will be the third of Arch Climbing’s public bouldering spaces after the recent closure of its original site in Bermondsey, next door to another centre, Building One +. The other, Arch Climbing North, is located in Edgware. The Acton Centre will contain 20,000 square feet of bouldering problems, terraced levels and a training area and is a ten-minute walk from both Acton Town Underground Station and Acton Central Railway.
Though the original opening was scheduled for early 2018, work seems to have picked up speed in recent months, with an Instagram post dated the 14th September announcing that “construction is going well” and they “hope to be opening in the next few months if all goes to schedule.”
Arch Climbing will hope to capitalise on the growing interest in climbing, particularly among the young. According to the International Federation for Sport Climbing (IFSC), 39% of worldwide climbers are under 18, while the number of young people taking part in the BMC Youth Climbing Series has risen by 50% in the last five years.
The new renovation will be a welcome addition to the high street, considering the recently reported ‘high street crisis’. The centre will provide a social hub, while also promoting health and fitness, and, if the centre attracts as much attention as its other ventures, will prove to be a mainstay among the other businesses on the high street.
