#BackTheBowl and help renew the iconic stage at the Crystal Palace Bowl, to create a new community focussed space in the park and enable live music and performance to return.

The legendary Crystal Palace Bowl in South London has hosted the likes of Pink Floyd and Bob Marley, while in 2021 the venue celebrates its 60th birthday.

However, the striking open-air concert stage that sits on the site has been dormant for more than a decade and sadly fallen into a state of disrepair over recent years. Having recently registered the stage as an Asset of Community Value, we’re now determined to reboot the 'Rusty Laptop’- as its affectionately known by locals.

With your support, our first step will be to resurface the large stage floor area with a durable new timber decking (more details below) and undertake essential maintenance works in the back-of-house structure. This would allow the venue to form a striking backdrop to live music, dance and drama and make the space safe for the community to explore and enjoy, as we work to define its long-term future.

This project is being led by Crystal Palace Park Trust, a charitable organisation working with Bromley Council to shape a sustainable long-term future for Crystal Palace Park.

In addition to crowdfunding, the project is also pitching for backing from the Mayor of London’s #MakeLondon fund, which supports creative, locally-led proposals that bring people together, improve public spaces and support community hubs and high streets

The Concert Bowl itself is a striking, sculptural piece of public architecture; designed by Ian Ritchie Architects in 1997 and nominated for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize

The new stage surface will consist of 375 square metres of Ekki timber: a long-lasting and low maintenance marine hardwood, from FSC certified sustainable sources - as used on the community-led and award winning Hastings Pier restoration project. This highly durable surface, with a lifespan in excess of 25 years, will make the stage safe and usable for many years to come.

Update: Following the hugely successful #BackTheBowl crowdfunding campaign, which raised over £65,000 thanks to individual pledges of more than 1,000 people and the generous support of the Mayor of London, the new stage surface was installed in July 2022. This marks the end of the first phase of our project to revive Crystal Palace Bowl, with the next phase aiming to modernise the backstage area and improve access to the venue.

Crystal Palace Community #BackTheBowl!