Brent planning officers have taken up the suggestion made by Wembley History Society (see LINK) that there should be a commemoration panel at the site of the Never-Stop railway station that served visitors to the British Empire Exhibition. The site currently used by a skip hire company will become student accommodation known as Wembley Edge if the application is approved tomorrow.
In a Supplementary Report, mainly made up of corrections to the main report, they propose a new condition:
An additional
heritage condition is also recommended having considered the Wembley History
Society comments referred to above. This should read;
“Prior to
commencement (but excluding demolition, site clearance and enabling works)
details of the introduction of an illustrated local history panel or plaque
shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority,
in consultation with the Council's Heritage Officer, Brent Museum and Archives
and Wembley History Society.
Details of which
shall include but is not limited to the following:
·Description of the
historical significance of the site and commemorating the British Empire
Exhibition history of the development site, including the Exhibition Station,
Never-Stop Railway and King's Gate Bridge.
·Identification of a
suitable location within the site where the panel can be installed where it can
be easily viewed by the general public.
The historical panel or plaque shall thereafter be installed
in accordance with the approved details prior to first occupation of the
development hereby approved, and thereafter retained throughout the lifetime of
the development.
The fourth and final part of the guest blog by local historian Philip Grant on a key piece of local history. Many thanks to Philip Grant for his tireless efforts to ensure our local history is acknowledged and celebrated.
1. The original (west end) entrance to Wembley Arena in 2003. (Image from the internet)
Welcome back for the final part of this story. As we saw at the end of Part 3, the Empire Pool had been renamed Wembley Arena, and although it was
still home to some sporting events, it was now being used mainly to stage music
and entertainment shows.
If I tried to name all of the acts who have performed at the Arena, the
list would take up the rest of this article. I will just mention a few, and if
I miss one of your favourites, you are welcome to add your memories of the
time(s) you saw them at Wembley in the comments below. Among the top British
bands that have performed here are The Rolling Stones, The Who, Status Quo, Queen,
The Police and Dire Straits. The first two of those both had drummers from
Wembley, in Charlie Watts and Keith Moon!
It would be unfair if I didn’t also name a few of the top acts from
overseas that have also performed here since the name was changed in 1978. Did
you see ABBA, AC/DC, Diana Ross, John Denver, Madonna, Meat Loaf, Dolly Parton,
Tina Turner, Whitney Houston or Stevie Wonder at Wembley Arena? If so, please
feel free to add your memories below.
2. A Torvill & Dean programme from 1985, and a recent Holiday on Ice
show. (Images from the internet)
One of the original purposes of the Empire Pool was to provide an ice-skating
rink. Although Wembley stopped staging its own ice pantomimes, spectacular touring
productions from the “Holiday on Ice” franchise have been a regular feature at
Wembley Arena since 1978. If you saw it on TV, as I did, you will never forget
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s gold medal-winning “Bolero” ice dance at
the 1984 Winter Olympics. The following year, as part of their World Tour, they
sold out the Arena for seven weeks with their own ice show.
The building was now more than fifty years old, and in the late 1980s
Wembley Stadium Ltd invested £10m to upgrade the Arena’s facilities for both
performers and the paying public who came to see them. The improvements allowed
even more spectacular effects to be included, as the 1990s saw more than 900
concerts performed at the venue. One of the most unusual for Wembley was an
arena staging of Puccini’s opera “Turandot” by the Royal Opera in 1991
(building on the popularity of the aria “Nessun Dorma”, which the BBC had used
as the theme tune for its coverage of the football World Cup in Italy the
previous year!).
3. Concert of Hope, George Michael singing in 1993, and watching other
performers with Princess Diana. (Images from the internet)
Charity events had been a feature of the Arena’s programme for decades. The
annual Concert of Hope for World Aids Day was supported by Diana, Princess of
Wales, and top performers, including another famous musician who grew up in
Brent, George Michael.
Cliff Richard, who first performed here in 1960 as part of a NME Poll
Winners’ concert, had 49 shows at Wembley Arena in the 1990s, and was still
packing the venue with his 50th anniversary tour in 2007. A
different genre of pop music also came to the Arena in the nineties, with shows
from boy (and girl) bands, including Take That, Boyzone, The Spice Girls and
Westlife. Two of those groups were from Ireland, but another Irish import,
Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance”, was so successful in 1997 that it
returned for 21 sell-out shows the following year.
4. “Lord of the Dance” programme and video screenshot. (Images from the internet)
February 1999 saw the first solo stand-up comedy act at the Arena (many
more would follow) when Eddie Izzard performed “Dress to Kill”, in aid of The
Prince’s Trust. Britain (and Brent’s) increasing cultural diversity also saw
Wembley Arena hosting more Asian / Bollywood music shows, by performers
including Amitabh Bachchan and Asha Bhosle.
5. Eddie Izzard programme and Asha Bhosle poster. (Images from the internet)
By the end of the twentieth century, the original Wembley Stadium was about to be
demolished and replaced. It had been
bought, together with around 100 acres of land that Arthur Elvin’s company had
acquired, by the Football Association’s Wembley National Stadium Ltd, but they
were not interested in redevelopment. In 2002, they sold some of the land,
including the Arena, to Quintain Estates and Developments Plc, which eventually
bought 85 acres of Wembley Park.
Wembley Arena was only eleven years younger than the 1923 stadium, and
Quintain were soon making redevelopment plans, including a major refurbishment
of the Grade II Listed arena. Work began in February 2005, and included moving
the main entrance to the opposite end of the building, with access from a new
Arena Square (it is actually a triangle!). The project cost £36m, and the “new”
12,500-seat Wembley Arena re-opened on 2 April 2006, with a concert by Depeche
Mode.
6. The Wembley Arena redevelopment in progress, 2005. (Image from the internet)
You can see the Arena being refurbished in the photograph above, but
beyond it you can also see an exhibition centre, a triangular office block and
a round building, Wembley Conference Centre, which were built by the Wembley
Stadium company in the 1970s. The Conference Centre had been the venue for the
annual Masters Snooker Championship since 1979, but after Quintain demolished that
building in 2006, to make way for its Quadrant Court flats development, “The
Masters” moved to Wembley Arena from 2007 to 2011.
7. Scenes from the Olympic badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events at
Wembley Arena in 2012. (Images from the internet)
We saw in Part 2 how the then Empire Pool was used for some sports in
the 1948 Olympics, and when the Games came to London again in 2012, the now
Wembley Arena played host to two different Olympic competitions. First it was
the badminton events, followed by the rhythmic gymnastics. Together they brought
hundreds of competitors, from more than fifty nations, and thousands of
spectators to Wembley.
8. Wembley Arena, with Hilton Hotel and LDO beyond, in 2013.
Redevelopment continued around the refurbished Arena and its square.
Forum House was the first of Quintain’s many blocks of apartment homes, built
between the western end of the Arena and Empire Way. The Hilton Hotel was
another early addition, just across Lakeside Way (remember that the Empire Pool
was built at one end of the British Empire Exhibition’s central lake!) from the
Arena entrance. The former Wembley exhibition halls made way for the London
Designer Outlet shopping centre, which opened in 2013, as did Brent’s new Civic
Centre, on part of the site of the former BEE Palace of Industry, across
Engineers Way from Arena Square.
9. Arena Square, with Brent Civic Centre beyond, summer 2014.
Arena Square, with its seasonal fountains, has become a popular open
space (especially since the trees planted along its Wembley Park Boulevard side
have grown large enough to provide some shade). Another of its features,
designed to celebrate some of the Arena’s most popular performers, is the Square of Fame. Although this is on nothing like the scale of the Hollywood Boulevard
“walk of fame”, it has become an attraction in its own right. Madonna was the
first star to have bronze casts of her hands put on display, in 2006. The most
recent addition is Dame Shirley Bassey, in 2019, sixty years after her
appearance in the first popular music show at the Empire Pool (although she
continued to perform here well into the 21st century).
10. A Square of Fame compilation, showing some of the stars who have made
their mark at the Arena.
In 2013, Quintain handed over the management of Wembley Arena to a U.S. music
promotions company (now known as ASM Global). They, in turn, entered into a
10-year naming rights deal with Scottish and Southern Energy, so that the
building became known as The SSE Arena, Wembley. This made little difference to
the shows put on at the venue, which included the annual live final of the
X-Factor TV talent show (with previous episodes filmed at Wembley Park’s Fountain Studios, until they closed in December 2016).
11. Outside and inside The SSE Arena on X-Factor finals night. (Images from the internet)
The Arena’s name changed again, after SSE sold its retail business to
another electricity supplier, OVO Energy, in 2020. What began in 1934 as the
Empire Pool is now the OVO Arena Wembley. And twenty years after buying the
Arena, Quintain sold it in 2022, raising capital to pay for the construction of
more buy-to-let apartments as part of its continuing redevelopment of Wembley
Park. Its owner is now ICG Real Estate, part of the private equity firm Intermediate
Capital Group.
12. OVO Arena Wembley, from across Engineers Way, July 2024.
I hope you have enjoyed discovering more about the history of this
famous Wembley Park landmark and venue. It is a story that I have wanted to
share for several years, and the building’s 90th anniversary felt
like a good time to do that.
As long ago as the 1990s, Brent Council and the Stadium company worked
together to celebrate the sports and entertainment heritage of Wembley’s
Stadium and Arena. They did this with a series of ceramic tile murals, which
welcomed visitors coming from Wembley Park Station through a new subway and
onto the newly pedestrianised Olympic Way. Unfortunately, in 2013, the Council
agreed to allow Quintain to cover those tile murals with advertisements!
13. Some tile mural scenes celebrating events from Empire Pool / Wembley
Arena history.
Along with Wembley History Society and a number of local residents, I
have been campaigning since 2018 to get these tile murals put back on public
display. In 2022, Quintain agreed to put the mural
scenes on the walls in Olympic Way, which
they own, back on public view. They include the ice hockey tiled picture at the
top of the image above.
The other four mural scenes in that image are on the walls of the
subway, which Brent Council own. I had taken a photograph of the mural
celebrating the Horse of the Year Show in 2009, but the other three images,
showing a female singer (Shirley Basey?), an ice skater and a basketball player
(Harlem Globetrotters?), are all extracted from old views of the walls. All
four of these murals are still hidden from view, behind LED advertising
screens.
Brent Council had the chance to put the subway murals back on public
view from the end of August 2024, and there was a strong case for doing so. Sadly, Brent’s Cabinet was unwilling to consider that case, choosing
instead to receive slightly more advertising rent. That decision will mean
these parts of the Arena’s history (and more scenes from Wembley Stadium’s
history) will remain hidden from residents and visitors for at least another
four years.
LONDON – JULY 30 2024 – Quintain Limited is
pleased to announce a £755 million preferred equity commitment in its
award-winning developments, led by funds from Ares Management Corporation
(NYSE: ARES) (“Ares”), managed by Ares’ Alternative Credit strategy. Quintain
is owned by funds managed by Lone Star Funds (“Lone Star”), which will be contributing
£337 million to the preferred equity instrument.
With over £2.8 billion of investment to date,
Quintain has transformed the Wembley Park estate in London into a premier
mixed-used neighbourhood, with circa 5,000 homes, leading retail, modern office
space, and acres of parks and pedestrianised public realm.
“Quintain is delighted to have Ares’ backing as a
new partner, whilst maintaining our longstanding partnership with Lone Star, to
continue to develop the world-class Wembley Park estate which already is home
to the largest multifamily/build-to-rent community in the UK,” said James
Saunders, CEO of Quintain.
“This is a significant next step in the evolution
of Quintain’s development of Wembley Park under Lone Star’s ownership.
Wembley Park is one of the largest build-to-rent schemes in the UK and a
great example of ambitious place-making. In Ares, we have found a like-minded
partner, and together we look forward to taking this iconic asset to its next
exciting phase,” said James Riddell, Co-Head of European Real Estate at Lone
Star.
“Lone Star and Quintain have built Wembley Park
into one of London’s leading neighbourhoods, delivering a high-quality and
sustainable real estate for thousands of residents and millions of visitors. We
are excited to partner with their outstanding teams, and to provide significant
new capital for Quintain to continue its journey and cement its position as a
leader in London’s critically undersupplied residential rental market,” said
Stefano Questa, Partner and European Co-Head of Ares Alternative Credit, who
will be joining the Quintain Board of Directors as part of the transaction.
“Our team is an established leader in providing
bespoke and creative capital solutions to asset-focused investment
opportunities,” said Joel Holsinger, Partner and Co-Head of Ares Alternative
Credit. “We believe our scale, coupled with our flexible mandate, makes Ares an
ideal partner for private equity sponsors, as they seek to grow and optimize
the balance sheets of their highest quality assets. We are delighted to be
partnering with Lone Star in this landmark transaction for the UK market.”
WHO ARE THEY?
About Ares Management Corporation
Ares Management Corporation
(NYSE: ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager
offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment
solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and
infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to
support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our
communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to
generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market
cycles. As of March 31, 2024, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $428 billion of assets under management, with approximately 2,900 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.
About Lone Star
Lone Star is a leading private equity firm advising funds
that invest globally in corporate equity, credit, real estate and other
financial assets. Since the establishment of its first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized 24 private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments totaling approximately $92 billion. The firm organizes its funds in three series: the Opportunity Fund series; the Commercial Real Estate Fund series; and the U.S. Residential Mortgage Fund series. Lone Star
invests on behalf of its limited partners, which include institutional
investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, as well as
foundations and endowments that support medical research, higher
education, and other philanthropic causes. For more information
regarding Lone Star Funds, go to www.lonestarfunds.com.
About Quintain
Quintain is the award-winning development and asset management company behind Wembley Park, one of London's most exciting new neighbourhoods.
Quintain celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022, with 20 years since acquiring its interest in Wembley Park. To date, the 85-acre development has seen over £2.8bn invested and welcomes on average 16 million visitors a year.
Quintain’s award-winning residential management business, Quintain
Living, focuses on the management of Quintain's institutional quality,
Build-to-Rent (BTR) property management platform and pipeline. In 2022
Quintain Living was named Estate Gazette’s BTR Specialist and RESI’s
Property Manager of the Year.
The new Wembley Stadium was marketed as a 'public transport' destination with limited private car access. This letter is reproduced with permission of the Wembley resident who has written to councillors and council officers about some of the current issues to do with Event Day parking in the local :
Dear All,
First of all I must state that I have
no objections to Wembley Stadium increasing the number of events, having lived
in the HA9 area for almost 40 years I have learned to adapt and deal with it
and experience little disruption to daily life.
It would seem that one of the biggest
bug bears to Residents in the area is Parking, so I would ask the council to do
a complete overhaul of the Parking Permits and Event Day permits being issued
in all wards within the HA9 area, not only for event days, as many now living
in what is supposed to be “Car Free” properties have gained permits in CPZ’s
and Event Day Permits which renders the system useless.
Work with Transport for London, to
ensure that reduction of service (206 & 92) and diversion of buses (83,182,
etc) that use Empire Way and Wembley Hill Road/High Road is kept to a minimum
and if they have to be diverted for a limited time that proper signage is
erected along with Traffic Marshals to help people affected to be able to
connect with the relevant bus stop, further along the route.
Exemptions on closed roads, for
Supermarket Delivery, Parcel Deliveries, Medicines, Residents with clear
mobility issues for access especially at weekends when people who are working
have no other options but to have them when they are at home.
Make Parking Enforcement Officers aware
of the regulations with regard to Event Day permits etc.
I recently queried
with Parking Enforcement Officer why they had not ticketed 2 vehicles parked in
the CPZ and was told “they have Event Day Permits” I informed him that this did
not entitle them to park in a CPZ/Resident Bay and he told me that was not what
he had been told and would therefore not issue a ticket. I can also
confirm that these vehicles belong to residents of the “Car Free” flats of Wembley
Place.
Recently at the
Taylor Swift concerts 3 vehicles parked in the CPZ on the street, all were Chauffeurs/Uber
Drivers who sat in their vehicles, engine ticking over for over an hour waiting
to collect their customers. We never saw anyone from Enforcement and not one
was ticketed or told to move.
Event Day Permits Abuse of ….
I suggest Brent
Council Parking Service looked at websites such as:-
Just Park, Park on my
Drive, Your Parking Space, Parkopedia.
As they are valid for
3 years for £15.00! not yearly you missed a valuable revenue stream there!
I know of several
people who have moved and no longer live in the area, who have retained and
renewed their permits, who on Event Days to park in the area when visiting
relatives who live in the zone, or who have given their permits to people who
would not normally entitled to one, to use over the next few years!
The issuing of Event Day Permits to the
Residents who live outside the CPZ’s in Tokyngton, Wembley Park, Wembley Hill,
and Wembley Central has allowed anyone with a Driveway some with spaces of up
to 3 cars, the ability to exacerbate the problem to epic proportions as many
now put the permit in their cars park them on the road and rent out their
driveway. Some even park extra vehicles on the actual dropped kerb and
block the footpath on to their drive. In Tokyngton this clearly
demonstrates that blocking the road at the Arches/Harrow Road has no effect
whatsoever, as most vehicles enter from St Michaels Avenue. This renders
the road closure a complete waste of time and does nothing to alleviate the
congestion at the end of an event.
I suggest for
clarification and entertainment someone from the relevant Parking department
put in the dates of the upcoming concerts for Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift,
see how many are on offer and how many have actually sold out! The sheer
volume of adverts, all outside the CPZs to discover how widespread this is,
even Asda Wembley Park advertise on Just
Park you can reserve a space for £24 for up to 11 hours.
Blocking
vehicles from entering the Wembley Stadium area i.e at Ecclestone Place,
Triangle/Wembley Hill Road whilst the Traffic Marshalls employed by Wembley are
doing a fantastic job of reducing the issues for residents parking and
accessing their homes, this has caused an even bigger problem which no one has addressed
not Parking Enforcement or the Police, which is the……….
Designated Pick Up
Points, or rigorous enforcement of…..
Allowing Chauffeurs,
Black Taxi’s and Ubers waiting to collect their customers from parking on both
sides of the street on double yellow lines between Ecclestone Place and the
Triangle where the road is blocked, along Harrow Road and Wembley High
Road. Some Ubers and Black Taxi’s were witnessed “Touting” for
business.
This was the case on
all 3 dates of previous Taylor Swift Concerts. The 18 bus could not pick
up at the bus stop, Ambulances were stuck in gridlock and nobody was going
anywhere as 2 cars could barely pass on the road. Sainsbury’s have their
delivery at 10.30 pm every night and park in the Bus Lane, which normally is
not an issue but on Event day added to the problem.
I am able to supply
video should anyone from Parking Enforcement wish to view the mayhem this
caused and was still causing problems up until 11.30pm over an hour and fifteen
minutes after the concert finished. I will state this is not typical
concert behaviour as certain concerts do not attract the fans that use these
options, i.e Green Day, and AC/DC. I have no doubt that the up and coming
Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and Boxing Events will have a same scenario
unless serious thought is given as to how to prevent this.
I look forward to
receiving a response on my comments.
I was crushed by happy, smiling and excited 'Swifties' on the packed Metropolitan line yesterday but the mood amongst Wembley Park residents was rather different.
It started off early morning when the 206 route from The Paddocks to Kilburn Park was stopped before 9am affecting people from the area travelling to work, school or shopping.
TfL via Twitter denied all knowledge of the curtailment and suggested residents rang their customer service, depite the fact they are a customer service. Instead they devoted themselves to publicising their Swiftie alternative tube map. Whimsy is no substitute for a public bus service!
The TfL website failed to inform passengers of the curtailment and the result was confusion and over-crowded pavements. Particularly worrying was that school children at each end of the 206 bus route would find that their bus was not running (southbound from Wembley Park) or would be dumped at Bridge Park (if travelling north to Wembley Park). People working at Brent Park Tesco and Ikea as well as the industrialarea south of the stadiumwere similarly disrupted.
About half an hour ago I found a woman at The Paddocks bus stop vainly waiting for a 206. She had been waiting for more than 30 minutes and said she would demand a council tax rebate.
Unfortunately this feeds a feeling that as far as Wembley Stadium, Brent Council, Wembley Park LDN (Quintain) and TfL go the needs of Wembley citizens (and particularly bus users) come way down the priority list on event days.
Last word from a Wembley Central resident:
Last night when Wembley Hill Road and Wembley Triangle were closed to all but traffic exiting to travel down Harrow Road to North Circular Raid it was chaos . There were untold amount of Chauffeurs/Ubers/Taxi's etc all parked up on double yellows at the Triangle next to the railings, blocking the road into Wembley High Road. All drivers were out of the cars, on their phones no doubt calling their passengers to let them know where they were waiting, The traffic on the south bound High Road was at a standstill. It was complete chaos, I have no idea why Police or Traffic Wardens were not called to prevent this, it was still like this at 11.30pm. The concert did not officially end until 10.45 that's when the fireworks went off.
The consultation regarding Wembley Stadium's Planning Application to hold additional major events closes on Monday.
The BEE Palace of Industry at night – a 1924 postcard (Source: Brent Archives)
[Standing in the same spot now, you would be looking at the front of Brent
Civic Centre!]
I began the year by explaining why I think we should commemorate the centenary of the
British Empire Exhibition in 2024. It is
an opportunity to consider (or reconsider) our views on “Empire”, learn more
about the history of the British Empire and its effect on the lives of the
people in the lands it acquired (often by force), and collect the stories of
families who have come from across the former “Empire”, and beyond, to live in
Brent today.
It is also an opportunity to discover more about the Exhibition itself,
an event which put a small, little-known Urban District in Middlesex on the
world map. People came to Wembley in 1924 from across the world to take part in
the Exhibition, and 17 million visitors flocked to Wembley Park to see it.
Crowds around the Burma Pavilion on the Whit Monday bank holiday, 1924.
To help you get a feel for what took place at Wembley Park a century ago,
there is a small exhibition at Kingsbury Library this summer. I will also be
giving an illustrated talk, in conjunction with that display, at a free
Kingsbury Library coffee morning event on Tuesday 9 July, 11am to 12noon.
Details are on the poster below (which includes a “link” to the Eventbrite site
where you can reserve your seat for the talk). I hope you enjoy these events!
The Olympic torch tile mural, and the torchbearer about to light the
Olympic flame in 1948.
Brent’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 28 May will decide on the award of a
new advertising lease for the Bobby Moore Bridge, from 31 August 2024 for the
next four years. They have two options to choose from, and Council Officers are
recommending Option B for approval:-
Extract from the Officer Report for 28 May meeting. (Note that Officers can’t spell Bobby Moore!)
The Officer Report is heavily biased in favour of Option B, but I will
have a chance to redress the balance. More than 100 people signed a petition calling on Brent Council and its Cabinet to only award a lease for
advertising on the parapets of the bridge (Option A), so that the tile murals
on the walls of the Bobby Moore Bridge subway, celebrating Wembley’s sports and
entertainment history, can be put back on public display. This means that I can
present that petition to the Cabinet meeting, before they consider the award of
the advertising lease.
Most of the tile murals on the subway walls have been hidden behind
adverts, or LED light panels which can be used for advertising, for more than
ten years. They were installed as a public artwork, so it is important that
Cabinet members can see pictures of at least some of the mural scenes their
decision will affect.
I asked to include a short powerpoint slide show as part of my
presentation, but this was refused. Apparently, it is essential that all the
screens show the digital clock, counting down the time remaining, when a member
of the public speaking! I was offered the chance to provide my images in
advance of the meeting, which I have done. This pdf document has been shared
with Cabinet members, and I will ask Martin to attach a copy at the foot of
this article, so that you can see it.
This, for readers’ information, is an outline of what I hope to say
during my five minute petition presentation at the Cabinet meeting:-
Today you’ll decide on the new advertising lease
for the Bobby Moore Bridge. The petition asks you to award the lease only for
the bridge parapets – Option A – so that the tile murals on the subway walls
can be put back on display
You’ll see, from the photos in my presentation, why
those murals deserve to be seen again, permanently.
Brent commissioned this public artwork, and it was
specially designed to welcome visitors, with colourful murals celebrating
Wembley’s sports and entertainment history.
There are eleven mural scenes that have been hidden
away since 2013, including the Olympic torchbearer and flag at the start of
Olympic Way, an important reminder of Wembley’s 1948 Olympic Games.
Other hidden scenes cover a variety of subjects,
including famous concerts at the Stadium, and the Horse of the Year Show, ice
skating and Harlem Globetrotters at the Arena.
Wembley History Society has been campaigning to have
the murals returned to public view since 2018. Its efforts saw the footballers
mural, with its plaque unveiled by Bobby Moore’s widow in 1993, uncovered the
following year.
We joined the Mayor and Council Leader in welcoming
the temporary display of three mural scenes in Olympic Way, at the start of
Borough of Culture year in 2020, when the Council acknowledged that ‘the tiles
are part of Brent’s rich heritage.’
Quintain put those scenes, just outside the subway,
back on permanent display in August 2022.
Option A is the opportunity to allow every
resident, and visitor to Wembley Park, to enjoy all of the beautiful murals, as
Brent originally intended.
The tile murals don’t have legal protection, but
they are a heritage asset, with historic and artistic merit. Brent has a
commitment to value heritage assets.
A paragraph from Brent’s 2019 Historic
Environment Strategy.
Good lighting in the subway, and the safety of
everyone using it, is very important.
When improvements were made to Olympic Way a few
years ago, Brent gave £17.8m CIL money towards the work, but allowed Quintain
to organise it.
The lighting design for the subway was based on the
LED advertising panels Quintain wanted to install, even though they knew those
panels had to be removed when the lease expired.
There will need to be changes when the panels are
removed. I’m sure the Council can work with Quintain and its lighting designer
on those, though it may mean a short delay in taking down the LED panels, and
possibly some extra CIL funding.
But using the advantage of reflected light, off of
the ceramic tiles, could actually reduce energy consumption!
[Although I won’t have enough time to include this in my presentation,
when Quintain’s Head of Masterplanning and its lighting designer came to a meeting of Wembley History Society in
October 2018, to discuss their plans for the
Bobby Moore Bridge subway, it was suggested to them that the tile murals could
be lit in such a way that the reflected light would help to light the subway
itself.]
Second half of the Leader Foreword from the
Officer Report for 28 May meeting.
The social value benefits, mentioned in the Leader
Foreword, will be provided by the supplier under the new lease, whichever
Option you decide on.
A lease under Option A will guarantee the Council a
minimum rent in excess of ninety thousand pounds a year.
Option B would pay slightly more, but the amount
involved is a tiny part of Brent’s budget.
The financial difference would be less than the
cultural, social, educational and heritage value of putting all the tile murals
back on public display.
I commend Option A to you, and ask you to vote for
it.
I think my presentation makes a strong case for putting all the Bobby
Moore Bridge tile murals back on display. Whether this is enough to persuade
Cabinet members remains to be seen!
Philip Grant.
The webcast of the Cabinet Meeting can be viewed on Tuesday 10am HERE
