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London Metropolitan Archives

PUBLIC CONTROL DEPARTMENT: ENTERTAINMENTS LICENSING


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): LCC/PC/ENT

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: PUBLIC CONTROL DEPARTMENT: ENTERTAINMENTS LICENSING

Date(s): 1889-1960

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 1.08 linear metres

Name of creator(s): LCC | London County Council x London County Council

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The term 'public control', as used in the Council's organisation, embraced various services of a regulative character, mostly exercised by some form of licensing control. Largely unobtrusive in their operation, and producing no spectacular effects, they were all carried out in the public interest and, in some respects, for the protection of the public or certain sections of it.

Their administration was conditioned by trends in the legislative provisions under which they were operated, by shifts and changes in social usages, and by the development of the Council's policies towards the matters to which they related.

Places used in London for stage plays, music, dancing, film shows, boxing, or wrestling had to be licensed if they were open to the public. The purpose of licensing was to ensure the safety and suitability of the premises and the entertainment. In general, the Council was the entertainment licensing authority for London, but most West End theatres were licensed for stage plays by the Lord Chamberlain.

Fan dancing, nude posing and strip-tease became increasingly popular during the Second World War. In 1940 the Lord Chamberlain convened a conference to consider the tendency towards impropriety on the stage. At first there was an improvement, but it was not maintained. In 1952 the Council decided to prohibit strip-tease in premises in London licensed for music and dancing. Strip-tease shows continued to be given at bogus clubs in the Soho area. In such clubs there was really no effective restriction on public admission, nor was there any intended. Legal proceedings and fines were not an adequate deterrent and more severe penalties were introduced in the London Government Act, 1963.

The cinema remained the most popular form of entertainment licensed by the Council. There were in 1963 over 150 cinemas in London. Safety arrangements were prescribed in detail and updated as new technology was introduced. The Council also had responsibility for the censorship of films, generally accepting the decisions of the British Board of Film Censors.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the London County Council Public Control Department relating to the licensing of places of public entertainment, including registers of applications for music, dancing, theatre and other licences, 1898-1900; registers of inspections of theatres and music halls, 1904-1909; printed papers regarding licensing sessions, 1889-1960; printed papers regarding cinema licensing, 1909-1952; printed papers regarding Sunday entertainments, 1903-1935 and Seating plans of London and Suburban Theatres, published by Keith Prowse Ltd., 1921.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

LCC/PC/ENT/01: Registers; LCC/PC/ENT/02: Reports; LCC/PC/ENT/03: Seating plans

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: City of London.

Physical characteristics:

Fit

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired with the records of its parent body, the London County Council.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the LCC please see Achievement: A Short History of the London County Council by W Eric Jackson (1965), LMA Library reference 18.0 1965, The London County Council 1938, LMA Library reference 18.7 SER 4, and The Youngest County: A description of London as a county and its public services, 1951, LMA Library reference 18.0 1951.

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2009


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Cinemas | Recreational buildings | Buildings | Architecture
Dance halls | Recreational facilities
Legislation | Law
Music theatres | Theatres | Recreational buildings | Buildings | Architecture
Plans | Visual materials
Public entertainment | Entertainment | Leisure time activities | Leisure
Registration | Demography
Regulation | Business practice and regulation | Business management | Management
Sunday trading | Trade (practice)

Personal names

Corporate names
LCC | London County Council x London County Council
Public Control Department | London County Council

Places
London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe