This is the wording of the petition that will be presented to Brent Council Cabinet later in May to keep a vital piece of Wembley's sporting and musical heritage on continuous display.
You have until this coming Friday, May 10th to sign. It only takes a few minutes. SIGN HERE
Allow the heritage tile murals in the Bobby Moore Bridge subway at Wembley Park to be put back on permanent public display, by only granting a new advertising lease for the parapets of the bridge.
We the undersigned call upon Brent Council, and its Cabinet making the decision on the Award of a Contract for the Bobby Moore Bridge Advertising Lease, to only award a lease from 31 August 2024 for advertising on the parapets of the bridge, and not on the walls of the subway, so that the heritage tile murals on those walls can be put back on public display.
The Bobby Moore Bridge and subway were created under a 1991 Brent Council scheme to pedestrianise Olympic Way, in advance of the 1996 Euros football tournament. With support from Wembley Stadium, the Council commissioned a large public artwork to decorate the walls of the subway from the station, and the Olympic Way walls as you emerge from the subway.
That public artwork was a ceramic tile mural, made
up of individual scenes celebrating a variety of sports and entertainment
events from the history of Wembley Stadium and Arena. These Bobby Moore Bridge
tile murals were designed to welcome the millions of people passing through the
subway each year, on their way to stadium and arena events, with a colourful
reminder of Wembley Park’s heritage.
The subway was officially opened in September 1993 by the widow of the former
World Cup-winning England football captain, who unveiled a plaque set into one
of the mural scenes, showing England footballers playing at the “twin towers”
Wembley Stadium, naming the bridge ‘in honour of a football legend’.
In 2013, Brent Council granted an advertising lease which allowed a Quintain subsidiary to cover the murals on the tile walls with vinyl advertising sheets, and to erect advertising signs on the walls above both entrances to the subway. A further advertising lease was agreed from August 2017 to August 2021.
In 2019, Quintain applied for, and were given (despite strong public opposition), permission to install LED light panels, to be used for advertising, on the walls of the subway, and larger advertising screens on the bridge parapets. The only concession they made, after campaigning by Wembley History Society, was to put the “footballers” mural scene on the east wall of the subway back on permanent public display. The existing lease was also subsequently extended by an additional three years to August 2024.
During the 2019 planning process, Brent acknowledged that the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals were a heritage asset. At the start of Brent’s year as London Borough of Culture, in January 2020, three of the large tile mural scenes on the east wall of Olympic Way, just outside of the subway were put back on temporary display. The Council publicised the event, saying:
‘The tiles, which show scenes from famous sports and entertainment events at Wembley Stadium and the SSE Arena, Wembley, are part of Brent’s rich heritage.’
The tile murals in Olympic Way are now back on permanent public display.
The end of the current advertising lease is an opportunity to allow Wembley Park’s residents and visitors to enjoy all of the tile murals in the subway again, for the first time since 2013. Potential advertisers have been asked to submit two bids in the tender process for the new advertising lease. One bid will be for adverting on the bridge parapets only, and the other will be for the bridge parapets and the subway walls.
Brent’s Forward Plan shows that the decision on the award of the new advertising lease is scheduled for the Cabinet meeting on 28 May 2024. This petition aims to show the level of support from people in the borough for the tile mural scenes in the subway to be put back on permanent public display.
