Ally Pally: What's the Big Deal?

Ally Pally: What's the Big Deal? At 237 metres long and 38 metres high, the Palace is wider and taller than Buckingham Palace. At seven acres big the Palace is larger than five Wembley Stadium pitches. The popular name “Ally Pally” was said to be coined by Gracie Fields, who was a regular on the Theatre stage at the Palace in the inter-War years. Famous for hosting the annual World Championship Darts since 2008, the Palace in fact held its first version of the event, then called ‘The News of the World Championship’, in 1963. The Palace’s Theatre was the location for the country’s first same-sex marriage on 29 March 2014. The Great Hall was home to the BRIT Awards from 1993-1995 (peak era Brit Pop). Among the London sights you can see from the Palace: St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard, Canary Wharf, London Eye, BT Tower, three Premier League football grounds. Behind the main stage of the Great Hall – a location for performances from the likes of Madonna, Jay-Z, The Rolling Stone, Led Zeppelin and many hundreds more – is the giant Willis Organ, designed by Henry Willis who also designed organs for Gloucester Cathedral, Crystal Palace and the Royal Albert Hall. One of the highest points in London, the Palace used to have its own tram and train station helping visitors up that hill!