It was conceived as a ‘people’s palace’ – and, as it turns 150 this week, Alexandra Palace continues to fulfil this brief admirably. There is something for everyone, and it’s not too sniffy about who ‘everyone’ describes. Hence the annual mayhem around the winter darts tournament, when everywhere between Muswell Hill and Wood Green is crawling with groups of very drunk men dressed as Smurfs, monks or the cast of Scooby Doo. The Royal Opera House this isn’t.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t more lofty, less populist offerings. I recall when Alexandra Palace’s theatre reopened in 2018 after an £18 million restoration, it debuted with an ENO production of the lesser-known Britten opera Paul Bunyan – hardly an obvious money-spinner. And between Luke Littler and Benjamin Britten lies everything else: craft shows, dog shows, antique fairs, wellness festivals, evangelical prayer meetings. I’m told a recent knitting and stitching event was mobbed.

There’s an ice rink, a pitch and putt golf course, and a boating pond where you can hire a pedal boat shaped like a dragon. There’s the famous 5 November firework display. One summer recently, they set up a giant waterslide. There is also, reputedly, a lively dogging scene in one of the car parks – though this may be apocryphal. I’ve yet to go.

As well as the darts, they do a lively trade hosting other second-tier sports – most famously, snooker. An unimpressed Ronnie O’Sullivan denounced it last year as ‘dirty and disgusting’. I think he meant the place to play in rather than........

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