The Boscombe Devil: meet the statue that's been trying to cancel gigs since the 1900s

The next time you're stood outside our doors, turn around and look up. Have you ever felt a presence watching you from the roofline opposite? Something is, and it knows exactly where you're going.

That's the glare of the Boscombe Devil, and it's been scowling down at crowds as they've entered and exited the venue for well over a century. Countless fans and artists have felt the heat of its judgement, including Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, and Wu-Tang Clan.

The Boscombe Devil (known locally as Old Nick) is a stone grotesque perched on the rooftop of the terrace at 583 Christchurch Road, hunched over the pavement and aimed squarely at the entrance of the former theatre that's now our home. And no, it's not a coincidence…

So, how did it get there?

From 1905, the Boscombe Hippodrome (now home to O2 Academy Bournemouth) ran as a music hall for the next fifty-one years. Almost daily, the walls would erupt with singing, dancing, comedy, variety, silent film, opera, and occasionally even a circus. Boscombe, meanwhile, had grown from a scatter of cottages to a population of nearly ten thousand in about thirty years. What was once a quiet, traditional suburb was now a bustling seaside destination, featuring a music hall with risqué variety on the bill.

Not everyone approved of the new entertainment offered on the high street. Boscombe's more puritanical residents showed immediate disapproval of the bawdy goings-on of the venue. And when the theatre started opening on Sundays, a local shopkeeper and member of the Lord's Day Observance movement decided a strongly worded letter wouldn't cut it.

He commissioned a stone carving of the devil himself and had it hauled up onto the roof across the road in full view of the queue. The message was simple enough: anyone heading for the doors (especially on the Sabbath) would see the devil watching and think better of it.

Over a century later, Old Nick remains, bitten and blistered by a hundred salt-aired winters. He's still in position, still fixed on the same set of doors, still waiting…

The next time you join us at O2 Academy Bournemouth, stop on the pavement before you go in. Do you feel like you're being watched?

Happy Halloween from O2 Academy Bournemouth...