Tagg's Island
Originally Crown land and part of the Manor of Hampton granted to Walter of Saint-Valéry following the Norman Conquest, the island was historically known as Walnut Tree Ait.
[11] In the 1880s the island became an anchorage for (predominantly seasonal)[a][14] houseboats, which by this time were "exuberant floating juggernauts" with multiple storeys and comprehensive amenities, and had famous residents including writer J.M.
Unfortunately the economic effects of the Boer War, the advent of the motor car, changing tastes, and a series of poor summers, led to a significant downturn in the fortunes of the hotel, and Tagg junior declared bankruptcy in 1904.
The hotel began to fall into disrepair, and residents of the island's houseboats impressed upon Francis Jackson Kent (who retained the freehold) to find a suitable buyer.
Taking competitive inspiration from the then-grandest houseboat on Thames – Henry Hewitt's Satsuma, anchored upstream at nearby Platt's Eyot – Karno commissioned the construction of the palatial Astoria, with a sundeck 90 feet long by 18 wide, which could accommodate a full orchestra and dancefloor.
The result was The Karsino, an opulent 26-bedroom hotel with a double verandah on three sides, a ballroom with a resident orchestra seating 350, billiard room, lifts to all floors and electric lighting throughout.
The Karsino's opening on Sunday 22 June 1913 was mobbed by thousands of prospective attendees, most of whom remained on the riverside, with those in attendance facing an overwhelmed catering department.
Following the Armistice, Karno enthusiastically re-opened the hotel, expecting his upper and upper-middle class patrons to return, but changing tastes and the dominance of the motor car saw his clientele seek pleasures further afield.
[16] The Karsino Hotel is featured in the 1916 Topical Budget newsreel Eccentric Club Entertain Wounded Soldiers,[17] and also appears briefly in the 1924 film Along Father Thames to Shepperton, part of the Wonderful London series produced by Graham Wilcox Productions.
[16] Cyril's mortgagee, the United Kingdom Advertising Company, took on the lease themselves, renovating the hotel and grounds, including a "charmingly appointed ballroom and theatre, with what is regarded as one of the finest floors in Europe, cosy alcoves for suppers and a restful balcony; .. covered tennis courts, badminton courts, putting greens, sea sand beach, pretty lawns and gardens, and facilities for bathing and boating, ... and access to the island for cars is made simple by a huge electrically-driven ferry".
The Thames Riveria traded with mixed success for several years under different owners (including property magnate Charles Clore), being refurbished and re-opened as the Casino Hotel in 1935.
The skating rink and tennis courts were converted to factory space, producing munitions, and a bridge built to connecting the island to the north bank.
[25] Vehicle production ceased in the mid-1960s, and between 1965 and mid-1968 the Casino ballroom intermittently hosted the Crawdaddy Club, featuring bands such as Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, The Shotgun Express (including Rod Stewart, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Bardens) and Pink Floyd.
