LAUGHTER is at the heart of the Brick Lane Music Hall, a fine example of one of the few traditional surviving music halls in the country.
Following a series of unexpected moves over the last 15 years, the music hall is now housed in the former St Mark's in North Woolwich Road, Silvertown, a grand Gothic church dating back to the 1870s.
It is run by comedian and impresario Vincent Hayes, who was inspired by the popularity of music hall entertainment when he ran The Lord Hood pub in Greenwich. Audiences flocked to see Vincent and his friends performing on an impromptu stage made from beer crates.
But his love of all things theatrical started at a much younger age. As a youngster, Vincent had problems walking as one of his legs was weak­er than the other. He had to endure three physiotherapy appointments every week. His doctor suggested that Vincent would benefit from dance classes to improve his posture. He first attended the Smith Academy of Dance in Kilburn and then went to a dance school in Bethnal Green.
He said: "I took to dancing like a duck to water and loved every minute of it. I knew this was my passion."
Vincent gave his first performance at York Hall in Bethnal Green. He decided that this was to be his destiny, and was determined to open his own music hall to provide traditional music hall entertainment.
But all did not go as planned, as Vincent found he was a victim of his own success. His first theatre was housed in a derelict building in Brick Lane from 1992. The building had been empty for 20 years and Vincent built the music hall from scratch. Things went well for him until a new owner doubled the rent.
Vincent packed up his theatre into boxes and moved to Curtain Road, Hoxton, where he had a huge space occupying the ground floor of a six-floor building. "Things went really well here and there was a real artistic atmosphere in the air. But bad luck struck again when the landlord hiked up the rent fivefold without any negotiation. I couldn't believe I would have to pack up the theatre again," he told East End Life. The theatre closed in February 2001.

Vincent Hayes In St Mark's Church, which provides a spectacular new setting for his Brick Lane Music Hall

Vincent then approached Tower Hamlets Council for help in finding a building, but finally agreed a deal with neighbouring Newham, which owned an extraordinary building in Silvertown, formerly St Mark's Church.
"This was perfect, as I no longer wanted a commercial landlord and Newham Council knew all about my theatre and wanted it in their borough. I kept the name Brick Lane Music Hall as a lot of hard Work and history went into creating it" he said.
Vincent was upset to see a war memorial in frort of his new music hall had fallen into disrepair and decided to take matters ito his own hands.
He cleared the wayward bushes and brambles, which had obscured it from view, buill a low fence round it, and cleaned it up to bring it back to its former glory.Vincent invited members from the Royal British Legion Club to see the memorial properly and pay their respects on Remembrance Sunday by putting on tea and cakes for the war veterans.

And he has not stopped there. Vincent has commissioned an artist to paint a mural behind the memorial, which will be finished in time for this year's Remembrance Sunday.

Brick Lane Music Hall is a registered charity and takes shows out to the community. Performances are regularly held in hospices, care homes and long-stay hospital wards throughout the East End.
Vincent has more than captured the spirit of community and his music hall is hoping to bring entertainment to the masses - as he puts it, "laughter really is the best medicine".