A new theatre, arts centre and bingo hall all opened in Hornchurch in the 1970s.
This week, the Recorder is looking back at what life was like in Hornchurch during the seventies, when the town became the cultural and leisure hub we know today.
After a growth in population, new schools and local government restructuring in the 1960s, changes in the 1970s were really what shaped modern Hornchurch.
Fairkytes Arts Centre - which was home to Hornchurch Central Library before a new site in North Street opened in 1967 - embraced its current use as a creative space in 1973.
Before to its launch, Havering Arts Council had campaigned for somewhere in the new Havering borough where people could "meet and pursue various arts and activities", saying that there was an "urgent need for rehearsal space, meeting rooms and studios".
Following plans drawn up by Havering Council in 1972, and £3,500 spent on decoration and equipment, the building was transformed into an arts centre.
Baroness Jennie Lee of Asheridge, who played a key role in the foundation of the Open University, opened Fairkytes Arts Centre on June 30, 1973 and told guests she was "most impressed with the development".
Later the same year, the Odeon - formerly Towers Cinema - closed to become a Top Rank Bingo Club.
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The final film shown before closure was Live and Let Die, while the first entertainment at Top Rank Club was a performance by Lonnie Donegan.
The bingo hall has since been demolished and replaced by Lidl - but the word Towers in concrete lettering outside the supermarket is a nod to the former cinema use.
Another major change came in 1975, when the new Queen’s Theatre opened in Billet Lane.
The purpose-built venue with a 503-seat auditorium replaced the original theatre in Station Lane, which had been operating since 1953.
The old theatre ended its run in February 1975 after the Christmas pantomime Old Mother Hubbard, and the new theatre took its place in April 1975 with an opening performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
Hornchurch also retained a strong collection of independent and neighbourhood shops during the 1970s, including Havering Lighting in Billet Lane, which was established by Peter Coe in 1972.
Elsewhere, traditional businesses such as Hillview Stores and Dairy in Butts Green Road continued, with the dairy dropping from the name in the mid-1970s.
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