Breaking: London orchestra studio goes on sale

The BBC studios in Maida Vale were put on the propert market today with a guidance price of £10.5 million.

The BBC orchestras are moving to new accommodation in East London, ahead of their threatened diminution.

The studios should have been sold years ago, rather than now, at the start of a property slump. This is BBC mismanagement on the usual scale.

The studios opened in 1934, four years after Abbey Road (which is eight minutes’ walk up the hill). They have hosted some memorable performances and recordings. The one I shall always cherish is the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s masterpiece Earth Dances in March 1986, with some BBC players cursing under their breath at its complexities.

It has since been performed triumphantly by the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and other world beaters.