The Wembley Park Story – Part 6

Welcome to the 6th and final part of Philip Grant's Story of Wembley Park

Welcome back to this final part of Wembley Park’s story. In Part 5 (“click” if you missed it) we reached the point where Wembley had won the bid to be the home of England’s new football stadium. In 1999, the Football Association bought the old stadium for £103million, through a new company, Wembley National Stadium Ltd. 

Even though the plans for the new stadium were still vague, an Australian company, Multiplex, agreed to build it for £326.5m, just before the old stadium’s final match (an England v. Germany international) in October 2000. Many people had thought that Wembley’s iconic “twin towers”, which were Grade II listed buildings, would be retained. However, Brent Council agreed to the whole stadium being demolished, although work did not begin on that until 2002.

1. Wembley's "twin towers", about to be demolished in January 2003. (Photograph by Pete Tomsett)

Although the old Wembley Stadium estate included over 100 acres of land and buildings, the F.A. had decided that they were ‘not in the business of regeneration’. By 2002, around 85 acres, including Wembley Arena (in 1978, the former Empire Pool was officially renamed), had been sold to the developers, Quintain Estates. They began drawing up a masterplan for the regeneration of Wembley Park, in consultation with Brent Council.

Early in 2003, the world watched as the towers of the old stadium were demolished. Rubble from them was used for part of the foundations of the new Wembley. What I didn’t know, until a few years ago, was that a concrete flagpole base, from the top of one of the “twin towers”, was saved as a memory of the old Wembley. If your “lockdown” exercise walk takes you to Brent River Park, you can see it by the footpath on the east side of the river, near Pitfield Way.

2. The “twin towers” flagpole base, at Brent River Park.

The demolition of the old stadium

While work was underway to build a new stadium on the site of the old, Quintain were also beginning their efforts. The Arena was still a thriving venue for over 150 shows a year, but it too was getting old. By 2005, a £20million upgrade was in progress, and you can see this in the photograph below. The 1934 building is having a facelift, with its entrance being moved to the eastern end, from a new Arena Square, while in the foreground is the roof of the former Palace of Industry. You can also see the round Conference Centre, the triangular office building Elvin House, and the exhibition halls and multi-storey car park of the 1970s Wembley Complex.

3. Aerial view of Wembley Arena and surrounding buildings in 2005. (Image from the internet)

The Arch, which was to be the distinctive feature of the new Wembley Stadium, was raised into place in 2004. However, there were problems and delays with the construction project, and it was not until March 2007 that stadium was ready, at a final cost of £757m. A new “White Horse Bridge” provided improved pedestrian access from the High Road, and Wembley Central and Stadium stations. Local residents got the chance to look at the new stadium, before the start of what it was hoped will be a legendary history to match that of the “twin towers”.

4. Brent residents crossing the White Horse Bridge, after a March 2007 Community Day at the Stadium.
(Photograph by Malcolm Barrès-Baker. Brent Archives online image 7057)

5. Forum House, in 2009, with construction on the former Conference Centre site underway beside it.

The refurbished, 12,500 seat Wembley Arena had reopened in April 2006, hosting the London leg of Depeche Mode’s “Touring the Angel” tour. Other construction work, for what Quintain originally called Wembley City, was going on nearby. Forum House, between the Arena and Empire Way, was their first residential block to be finished. By 2007, the Conference Centre next door, and other 1970s buildings, were being demolished to make way for larger schemes.

6. Wembley Conference Centre being demolished in 2007. (By M. Barrès-Baker. Brent Archives image 7070)

Among the projects completed over the next few years were the 4-star Hilton Hotel, across Lakeside Way from the Arena, the Quadrant Court flats and several blocks of student accommodation. With more people living in the area, a gym and small branches of Tesco and the Co-op on the ground floors of several new buildings helped to provide amenities. However, the most striking student block in Wembley Park, Victoria Hall (or “the helter-skelter”), which opened in North End Road in 2011, was not one of Quintain’s buildings.

7. The Victoria Hall student accommodation building, as seen from the stadium in January 2012.

The Olympic Games returned to Wembley in 2012. Although the main venues were at the Olympic Park, in East London’s Stratford district, both the stadium and the arena hosted sports events. For the 90,0000-seater stadium it was, of course, football matches, with three group games involving Great Britain’s men’s and women’s teams, two semi-finals and both finals. Wembley Arena hosted both the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions. These required extra facilities, which were housed in temporary buildings on the former Palace of Arts site, with a special footbridge built over Engineers Way to link them to the arena.

While new buildings were going up, one of Wembley Park’s oldest buildings was almost destroyed by a fire in 2013. The Lodge to Richard Page’s estate (at least a century old when it was pictured at the start of Part 3) had already seemed accident-prone after it was hit by a runaway bus in 1973. Sadly, this Grade II listed cottage, at the corner of Wembley Park Drive, is still in a terrible state, with its repair hampered by the alleged arson that started the fire.

8. Wembley Park Lodge, with the bus accident in 1973 (Brent Archives image 9091), and in 2017.

2013 was also a milestone year for the regeneration of Wembley Park. Quintain’s London Designer Outlet (“LDO”) opened in October. This large development of shops, eating places and a multi-screen cinema was a visitor attraction, and a facility for local people. Under an agreement with the Council, Quintain were allowed to cover the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals with large vinyl sheets advertising the LDO. That autumn also saw Brent Council move its 2,000 staff from the Town Hall in Forty Lane, and other buildings, into a brand-new Civic Centre.

9. Brent Civic Centre, from Arena Square, July 2014.

Brent’s new civic home had been built on part of the former Palace of Industry site, and the last section of this final relic of the 1924 exhibition had been knocked down in 2013. One of the first events put on by Brent Museum in the Civic Centre was a display marking the 90^th anniversary of the British Empire Exhibition. Quintain had saved some of the concrete decorative lion heads when the “Palace” was demolished. Wembley History Society, and the Exhibition Study Group, worked with Quintain and Brent Council to put a “Wembley Lion” on permanent public display. It was unveiled in July 2014, on the green space in Wembley Hill Road, near the LDO.

10. The Wembley Lion (selfie opportunity!), with BEE information panel, in Wembley Hill Road, July 2014.

The use of the site opposite the arena for the 2012 Olympics had delayed its redevelopment by Quintain. Their large development of “Tipi” branded rental apartments, finally came on stream in 2016. The brick-faced blocks were around a private green space, and were known as Emerald Gardens. A road behind them was intended to commemorate the Palace of Arts, which had previously been on that site, before being demolished in the early 2000s.

Although Quintain still had plenty of land at Wembley Park to develop, they acquired some more in early 2016, when they bought Fountain Studios. From 1993, Fountain had been using the former Studio 5 building, and hosted the production of many famous TV shows. They had to close by the end of the year, with their last ever broadcast the live semi-final of that year’s “X-Factor”. Plans have since been put forward to redevelop the area as the Fulton Quarter, but the building reopened as Troubadour’s temporary Wembley Park Theatre in October 2019.

11. An aerial view across Wembley Park in 2017. (Courtesy of Julian Tollast / Quintain Plc)

At first sight, Wembley Park seems to be drowning under a sea of tall buildings in recent years, but there are some mitigating factors in its planning. Just as at the 1924 exhibition, there are green spaces between the concrete buildings, such as Elvin Gardens, behind the Civic Centre. A seven-acre park will soon be open, including a water feature. A community centre, The Yellow, has been provided, in a road remembering Wembley Park’s heritage. The long-promised primary school has yet to be built, however, and I am one of those who believe its proposed site, on York House’s car park, beside a main road with poor air quality, is a mistake.

12. The Yellow community centre, in Humphry Repton Lane, Wembley Park.

A major upgrade of Olympic Way was announced in 2017, with Brent Council agreeing to give Quintain a £17m contribution to its cost out of Community Infrastructure Levy payments. In April 2018, Wembley History Society asked both parties to put the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals back on permanent public display, as part of those improvements. Among the features that have appeared beside the main route to the stadium, along with new trees, is the BoxPark food hall and entertainment venue.

13. Olympic Way improvements in progress, January 2019, with the new BoxPark and blocks of flats.

Despite strong opposition from local historians and residents, Brent’s Planning Committee agreed in July 2019 to allow the tile murals in subway to be covered with LED panels that can be used for advertising. Quintain had agreed to put one of the mural scenes, showing England footballers at the old “twin towers” stadium, on display as part of their public realm upgrade. In January 2020, three more scenes were put back on display for a few weeks, at the start of Brent’s London Borough of Culture year. Wembley Park’s sports and entertainment heritage covers more than just football, and I hope that its story will, in time, be properly celebrated!

14. The Bobby Moore Bridge subway in November 2019, with lights, and one tile mural scene on show.

Thank you for reading Wembley Park’s story; I hope you’ve enjoyed learning some interesting things about it. This series has ended, but there will be more local history next weekend!

Philip Grant.

Thank you very much Philip for all your work on this really interesting series of article.

Martin Francis 

The Story of Wembley Park Studios - Preston Library Sat Sept 23rd

Fantastic Online Archive for Wembley Park Studios now available

A-R cameraman Steve Minchin filming Friday's Girl in Studio 2

Readers interested in the story of the Fountain TV studios (and its predecessors at Wembley Park) which closed in December 2016 - (see Philip Grant's "farewell" blog on this LINK ) now have an excellent new online resource available to them. Put together by former Fountain TV technician, James Smith, with the help of many former studio staff, the Wembley Park Studios Archive website can be found at: wembleyparkstudios.co.uk .

A documentary film about the history of the Wembley Park Studios was made by Fountain TV staff for its farewell party. It features clips from programmes made there, and interviews with key people both behind and in front of the cameras. "That's a Wrap! - the story of Wembley Park Studios" can be viewed on You Tube HERE.

The Cube - building the set

Rehearsing the X Factor

Filming Taskmaster at Fountain's Studio B, 2016.

New Quintain consultation on Fountain Studios site and additional proposals

Following the March consultation LINK Quintain have come back with revised plans for the Wembley Retail Park/Fountain Studios site and will be mounting a public exhibition at  the London Designer Outlet next week. The exhibition will be at Unit 71 on the first floor on Thursday 20th April 4pm-8pm, Friday 21st April 4pm-8pm and Saturday 22nd April 10am-2pm.

Quintain are calling this the 'Fulton Quarter Masterplan' and apart from new homes and commercial space are now suggesting a 'new higher education facility' . The College of North West London is next to the site.

Additionally, in what seems to be a departure from the long-term plan to make the Wembley Stadium area a 'public transport destination', they will be presenting proposals for a new coach park and multi-storey car park at VDC Careys and a build to rent development on Plot E05.

www.yourwembleypark.com  info@wembleypark.com  0800 307 7564

The updated proposals:

From Fire to Fountain - Film & Television at Wembley Park - 20th January

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Philip Grant posted a well-received article about the closure of Fountain Studios in Wembley Park recently LINK and mentioned the above presentation that he was planning. 

For more  information you can also contact Philip directly Philgrant69@aol.com

Farewell to Wembley's Fountain Studios

Guest blog by Phiip Grant
 

While Brent’s Planning Committee were approving more big development schemes on Wednesday evening (see Martin’s “Public denied access …” blog below), a party to celebrate 60 years of TV production at the Wembley Park Studios was taking place nearby. I was lucky enough to be invited, as a (very minor) contributor of material to a film about the history of the studios, which was shown as part of the farewell gathering of staff and television people who had worked there over the years.

Martin broke the news in January that the studios had been sold to Quintain LINK . Like other TV facilities in London before it, rising property prices had made Fountain Studios more valuable as a redevelopment site, despite being a popular and profitable venue for independent production companies to make their programmes. Before it is forgotten, I would like to share some of the studio’s story with you.

After the British Empire Exhibition closed in 1925, new uses had to be found for its huge site and the numerous reinforced concrete buildings it contained. Cinema was a fast-growing business, and some of its leading lights suggested that the 13-acre Palace of Engineering or slightly smaller Palace of Industry should be converted to film studios, as Britain’s “Hollywood”.

Eventually, in 1928, it was the former Lucullus Restaurant, the BEE’s poshest eating place, where dinner for two (at 25/- a head) cost as much as the weekly wage of the labourers who constructed the building, which became the studios for British Talking Pictures Ltd.

 

By the 1930’s, the Wembley Park Studios had been taken over by (20^th Century) Fox Films. As part of laws to protect the British film industry from American competition, they had to make as many films here as they imported, so Wembley turned out one low-budget “B” movie drama every three weeks. These “quota quickies” provided a start in films for many British actors and actresses who would go on to become famous, and even win “Oscars”.
 

After being requisitioned during the Second World War for making Army and RAF training films, a small number of independent films were made here up to 1954. By that time television was the big new source of entertainment, and the start of Independent Television saw the studios converted to be the production centre for the London region’s weekday ITV channel, Associated-Rediffusion, which went on air from Wembley Park in September 1955. The old building had enough room for four small TV studios, but something bigger was soon needed, and Studio 5, the largest purpose-built TV studio in Europe, opened in 1960.

Apart from two short periods in the 1970’s and 1980’s when the studios were unoccupied, and seven years in between when they were mainly used for feature films again (including The Elephant Man, Quadrophenia and Time Bandits), Wembley Park has produced top quality TV programmes. If you have watched television during the past 60 years, you will almost certainly have seen some of them, even though you may not have known they were made locally.
 

If drama is your thing, the detective series “No Hiding Place” or period saga “Upstairs, Downstairs” were filmed here, as well as a famous 1960’s production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (with Benny Hill as Bottom). Britain’s first quiz programmes with cash prizes, “Take Your Pick” and “Double Your Money” were made here, as were the first series of the mega money doubling show, “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” Older fans of popular music will remember “Ready, Steady, Go!” (yes, I was a teenager in the 1960’s), while younger readers may recognise “The Word” and MTV’s “Unplugged”, all made at Wembley Park.

Comedy series that were filmed at our local studios include “On the Buses”, and Wembley’s own stellar TV family “The Kumars” (at No. 42). Satire has also featured on the production schedules over the years, from “The Frost Report” (including Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett and John Cleese) to “The Day Today” (an early outing for Steve Coogan), along with “Bremner, Bird and Fortune” and the early years of “Have I Got News For You”. But in more recent years it has been the big light entertainment shows, which make good use of the studio’s huge size, which have dominated the output of what became Fountain Studios in 1993, including “Pop Idol”, “The Cube” and “Britain’s Got Talent”.

Fountain Studios literally had “The X Factor”, and the 2016 live semi-final on 4 December was the last programme ever to be filmed there. Its closure means the loss of a number of highly skilled technicians’ jobs, a loss of business for the nearby shops and restaurants which served those making the TV shows and the audiences who came to watch them, and the loss of a special place with an almost 90-year history of producing films and TV programmes in Wembley Park. Joni Mitchell was right when she sang ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’ (showing my age again!). Perhaps the site will become a “parking lot” for a few years, then Quintain will probably put up more blocks of flats, to add to Wembley’s new “City of Concrete”.

To mark the passing of Wembley Park Studios, I will be giving an illustrated talk about its history on 20 January 2017. Watch out for more details in the New Year, if you would be interested in coming along, and please feel free to add any memories you have of the studios in the “Comments” section below.

Philip Grant

Quintain gobbles up another chunk of Wembley as Fountain Studios sold off

Fountain Studios, Wembley Park Road

Local landmark Fountain Studios has been sold to Quintain for £16m. The studios have been used for Britain's Got Talent and the X Factor and excited queues of fans, some on step ladders to see over the fence, are a familiar sight in Wembley.

In the year to the end of September,  Fountain made a loss of £300k on sales of £5.3m, around 4% of the parent company, Avesco's, turnover.

It is likely that the Studios will eventually close with the loss of local jobs, although it is reported that a leaseback agreement has been agreed for a unspecified period. Presumably that will enable the Studios to fulfill any contracts already signed.  Local businesses, including restaurants and pubs, will also lose out with the loss of custom from the production audiences.

Quintain is likely to build housing on the site with some retail on the lines of the ALTO development further down the road.  Given the location and Quintain's aims to maximise profits these are highly unlkely to be social housing.

Quintain itself was taken over the Texan Lone Star Real Estate last year for £745m.

Bid to change use of Mahatma Gandhi House to accommodation as giant high rise development goes to planning committee

Prior approval is being sought to change the use of Mahatma Gandhi  House, which used to house the offices of Brent Council Housing Service, to  accommodation. LINK

It would comprise 37 studios, 48 one bedroom flats and 4 two bedroom flats. The initial drawings appear to show high density accommodation.  The building is 8 storeys high.

Ground floor

Meanwhile the much large Yellow Car Park Scheme behind Quality Inn and Dexion House  (now demolished) and beside the Civic Centre,  comes before the Planning Committee on February 11th.

This is part of an enormous development including retail, professional, food and drink units; business accommodation, housing units, community use space and student accommodation has been covered before on this blog.

The amount of affordable housing for this site remains small (18 out of 370):

The planners express concern about a short-fall in three bedroom accommodation...

However, this could easily be addressed through internal alterations to the building, amending the size of flats within the element of the building adjacent to the park. This would involve changing a number of groups of two flats which currently comprise two 2-bedroom 4-person flats into one 1-bedroom flat and one 3-bedroom flat. The total number of units would not change. However, the proportion of 3-bedroom flats would increase to meet the minimum level specified within the Development Specification. It is recommended that a condition is attached requiring details of these changes. This is considered to be sound as the proposal would primarily require internal changes and any external changes would be non-material

The site outlined in red

The nearby Fountain Studios (top centre) sent in an objection concerned that the building works (which also include an access road and a park) would disrupt its activities in terms of noise, reverberations and building vehicle traffic. The Council make it a condition that there is engagement to limit the amount of noise and disturbance.

The planners also suggest that the proposed aluminium cladding  with white framing should be softer with greater contrast between the materials.

There are no 'poor doors' (separate entry for affordable and market accommodation)

The officers recommend approval.

Summary

The three applications that are being considered concurrently look to deliver 370 homes together with some key elements of social and physical infrastructure including the 0.4 Ha park and the 300 square metre community hall. The homes meet or exceed London Plan unit size standards and almost all units benefit from good sized balconies. All units within this building benefit from immediate access to the park. The incorporation of a large lobby serving all units helps to demonstrate an inclusive approach to all residents, including those who reside within the Affordable units. Conditions are recommended to address some shortfalls or alterations that are necessary, such as the number of 3-bedroom units, the potential efficiency improvements to the layout of Affordable units and the layout of the community hall. A condition is also recommended to ensure that noise and disturbance from construction is minimised.

As Quintain rapidly fill in the various plots it is hard to keep track of the various planning applications and the stages they have reached, I think it would be useful for the public to have a document and images updating information.

It is hard to get an overall impression of what the area will eventually look like, the amount of retail, food and office space and the different types of housing, including student accommodation.  The amount and type of open space is also an important consideration. However, most important for local people is the lack of affordable housing. The planners argue that using the floor space measure =10% but in terms of the number of units it is just 5%.