The club is the only survivor of several Polish social establishments in West London that began during World War II and were in the vicinity of the temporary Polish parish that was hosted by the Oratorian Fathers at Brompton Oratory and assumed greater significance after the war with the passing of the Polish Resettlement Act 1947, when some 200,000 Polish veterans reached British shores. Throughout the ensuing years, Ognisko was not only a meeting place for Polish government ministers and officials, it also hosted Poland's exiled intellectual elite. Notable survivors of Poland's inter-war musical theatre and cabaret scene, including Marian Hemar, Feliks Konarski, Renata Bogdańska, Irena Delmar and Zofia Terné, revived their productions for the Ognisko stage. Its basement hosted in the 1960s and 70s a youth club under the moniker, "Pomidor". The other Polish social clubs that have disappeared or have been amalgamated were: Hemar's "Orzeł Biały" in Knightsbridge, "Samopomoc Marynarki Wojennej", on Chelsea Embankment, "Klub Lotników polskich" in Collingham Gardens, SW5, "Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów" in Queen's Gate Terrace. The commemorative booklet published on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the club announced: "In a four storey stucco villa, characteristic of Victorian London, with its pilastered entrance at 55 Princes Gate, a building in the hands of the Relief Society for Poles, there is a Polish Hearth, an institution very like a metropolitan Polish club. It differs from its neighbours in the terrace, because of its generous bronze plaque, a tribute to the tragic Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The plaque was placed on the facade of Ognisko Polskie on behalf of Hungarian exiles and depicts Hungarians marching towards Soviet tanks. The bas-relief is the work of Hungarian artist Ferenc Kovacs and represents the patriotic Hungarian nation and its deep respect for freedom.” As the Polish community in London either emigrated to third countries or settled elsewhere in the UK, those who remained in the capital tended to move south or westward to areas such as Hammersmith, Ealing and Balham, where house prices were more accessible. In the 1970s the community had raised sufficient funds to build the Polish Social and Cultural Centre in Hammersmith. To a degree Ognisko and POSK became rivals for the support a diminishing Polish community, until the next century.
Dispersal and decline of the diaspora
With the decline of war-time and post-war émigrés, by the start of the 21st century, the Club's future became uncertain. The building came close to being sold off to developers in 2012 by some members of the committee with an eye for the main chance, but the membership roused itself into action and saved this popular venue for a new generation.
Successful revival
A new committee brought in contemporary management skills to rejuvenate the venue. The bar and dining room are leased to restaurateur Jan Woroniecki. Portraits of prominent Poles and British people adorn the walls. Theatrical productions, concerts and exhibitions have resumed on the first floor of the building attracting a British audience boosted by the arrival of a new generation of EU Poles.
