Luxury 'Wedding Hotel' for Wembley on Brent Council site

 

Rooftop 'Wedding garden'

 Cash-strapped Brent Council is set to approve a partnership with Rhapsody Hotels of Singapore to build a luxury hotel on the site of its Wedding Garden.  The Garden replaced the much-loved garden at the old Brent Town Hall which now forms part of the grounds of the Lycee.

The current garden is built alongside the Civic Centre and hired at additional cost for Civic weddings. With high rises all around it is somewhat dwarfed and not the ideal setting. However, the site itself is quite generous and of considerable value if itself converted into a high rise block.

The Marriage  (Ceremonial) Garden

In  the multimillion deal Brent would sell the site to Rhapsody but would retain the rooftop and two floors of the 26 storey block for a marriage roof garden and large halls accommodating up to 500 wedding guests. Brent Council as registrar would retain the ceremonial fees and other charges with separate charges for use of the roof garden.  The report to Bretn Council suggests that with the new luxury provision fees could be considerable increased and the facility would attract national and international couples as well as locals.

Currennt fees

The roof top garden would provide the iconic backdrop of the stadium and view across London for rooftop wedding photographs and enhanced versions of the current ceremonial garden facilities:

·       selfie frame

·       flower wall and Love Lights

·       disability access

·       Fairy Lights

·       heaters

·       toilets

·       Wi-Fi

 The hotel itself would cater for weddings, civil partnership and other ceremonies with provision of honeymoon suites and luxury accommodation for ceremony guests with spa facilities including sauna, jacuzzi and beauty parlours and first class restaurants and banqueting halls.

Officers argue that a 'wedding package' would benefit both the hotel and the Council as well as providing custom for all the eating and entertainment facilities around Wembley Park including the LDO:

With so many wedding and civil partnerships going to Paris, Berlin or Prague for their ceremonies this is a chance to make Wembley the wedding capital of the UK attracting people from all over the world for what will be a unique and memorable offer,

Mr Yuv Binhad of Rhapsody Hotels said:

This is fantastic news for our shareholders. We have long admired Wembley Park as a 'Little Singapore' and we are pleased to become partners with such a forward thinking, and if I may I say so... romantic council.

The demise of one of Wembley's wonderful willows

Trees are too often an undervalued part of our local heritage and personal histories. The willow above, in the Marriage Garden at Brent (formerly Wembley) Town Hall, probably appears in thousands of wedding albums across generations.

According to the Lycee security officer I spoke to the tree came down in the recent storm.

After the Town Hall was sold-off by Brent Council to the Lycee International des Londres Winston Churchill it became part of the children's playground and doubtless figured large in their creative play and exploration.

The storm occurred after the school broke up for the summer holiday so children will return to find a large gap in their playground. This was the scene today.

Wembley is well endowed with mature willows with local doctors' surgeries and playcentres named after them.

There is a magnificent specimen, in need of a trim, just behind the Lycee in Greenhill Way:

If you would like one of your pictures of the Marriage Garden willow published please send in jpeg or png format to me at martintinrfrancis@virginmedia.com