[3] Built in 1910 on a site formerly occupied by a tram shed[3] for London United Tramways, the Brook Green Roller Skating Rink,[1] which may have been closed since 1915,[nb 2] was acquired at the end of the First World War by North American entrepreneurs Howard Booker and Frank Mitchell,[3][4] to convert it into a place to host ballroom dancing and various kinds of dance bands, among which were the new jazz bands.

[1] Its Chinese-style decoration featured lacquered columns, fretwork and a pagoda roof with silk lanterns;[1][3] in the centre of the expensive sprung dance floor,[3] made of Canadian maple,[1] was a model mountain with a replica Chinese village and a fountain;[3] while at each end thereof, was a low-rise bandstand encased in glass, to allow two bands to play alternate numbers for the dancers.

[6][7] Nick LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band, in those days on tour from America, played regularly at the Palais from that first night until June 1920.

[14] In 1959, Joe Loss and his Orchestra, with singers Rose Brennan, Ross MacManus and Larry Gretton, became the resident dance band at the Palais.

[20] The venue accommodated the popular School-Disco club night with its resident band, On-On, which subsequently moved to the London Forum in Kentish Town.

The Palais played host to countless artists; among them Bill Haley & His Comets (1974), the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, the Cure, U2, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Fall, Robert Plant & the Strange Sensation, Hanoi Rocks, Big Bang and Kylie Minogue and the Police.

"[21] Bands such as PiL, the Cramps and Soft Cell, who played their "farewell" concerts there in January 1984, made the venue popular for London gig-goers.

This venue also served as a stage for renowned Latin artists, including the legendary Cuban singer Celia Cruz, known as the Queen of Salsa.

[27] In the end, none of these events was truly the last: the final gig at the Hammersmith Palais took place on 3 May 2007, and was by Groove Armada to launch their album Soundboy Rock.

[28] Film producer and director Richard Weller made a documentary for BBC Television about the venue's history, titled Last Man at the Palais.