Alexandra Park & Palace

Built in 1873 as North London’s answer to Crystal Palace, Alexandra Palace suffered the ignoble fate of burning to the ground only 16 days after opening. Encouraged by attendance figures, investors decided to rebuild and it reopened just two years later. Although it boasted a theatre, museum, lecture hall, library and Great Hall with one of the world’s largest organs, it was no match for Crystal Palace. It housed German prisoners of war during WWI and in 1936 was the scene of the world’s first TV transmission – a variety show called Here’s Looking at You. The palace burned down again in 1980 but was rebuilt for the third time and opened in 1988. Today ‘Ally Pally’ (as it is affectionately known) is a multipurpose conference and exhibition centre with additional facilities, including an indoor ice-skating rink, the panoramic Phoenix Bar & Beer Garden and funfairs in summer. It hosts occasional club nights and concerts too. The park in which it stands sprawls over some 196 hectares consisting of public gardens, a nature conservation area, a deer park and various sporting facilities including a boating lake, pitch-and-putt golf course and skate park, making it a great place for a family outing.