Bobby Moore Bridge advertising lease – the case for the tile mural

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

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

Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals – please sign petition to have them all put back on public display

 A guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

The Olympic Torch tile mural, covered over since 2013.

 

It is nearly six years since I first wrote about the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals at Wembley Park, and a request by Wembley History Society to Brent Council and Quintain that they should be put back on permanent public display. 

 

Now, at last, there is a real opportunity to make that happen, which is why I have launched an online petition, and why I am writing now to encourage Wembley Matters readers to sign it, please. The petition statement says:

 

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 petition is on Brent Council’s website, and you can find it HERE.

 

Brent’s 15 February 2024 advert on the Contracts Finder portal.

 

The opportunity has come because the current Bobby Moore Bridge advertising lease expires on 30 August 2024. Following a suggestion I made to Brent’s then Chief Executive in 2021, the new lease is being advertised through an open tender process (rather than through a private deal with Quintain), which may mean that the Council receives a higher rental income. 

 

Crucially, again at my suggestion, potential suppliers must make two bids, one for advertising solely on the parapets of the bridge (with a minimum annual income guarantee of £90,000) and one for advertising on the bridge parapets and the walls of the subway (minimum annual income guarantee £100,000).

 

The advertising lease contract opportunity was published on 15 February, with bids to be submitted by 12noon on Monday 18 March. The decision on who to award the new advertising lease to, and which option to award the lease for, is due to be made by Brent’s Cabinet on 28 May. I’m hoping that the difference in the two best bids will be small enough to persuade Cabinet members to award a lease only for advertising on the bridge parapets! 

 

As the light panels which currently cover most of the tile mural scenes in the subway (between Wembley Park Station/Olympic Square and Olympic Way) were installed for advertising purposes, this would mean that they have to be removed, so that all of the remaining tile mural scenes can be put back on permanent public display.

 

Composite image showing tile murals on the west wall of the subway.
(Image thought to be by Amanda Rose, for Quintain, in 2019)

 

The documents issued by Brent Council for the tender process included a “location” sheet, with photographs of the tile murals on the subway walls. The composite view of the west wall mural scenes included some which I did not have images of before. The basketball player, with yellow shorts, probably represents the Harlem Globetrotters team, who played exhibition matches at Wembley Arena every year from 1950 through to 1982. They were a big attraction, and I remember watching them as a boy, on a black and white television set.

 

A Harlem Globetrotters basketball game at Wembley in the 1950s. (Wembley History Society Collection)

 

The singer, with accompanist on a grand piano, may well represent Shirley Bassey, who was one of the stars in the first popular music concert at Wembley Arena in 1959, and performed there most recently in 2003. These are just parts of Wembley’s sports and entertainment heritage that the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals celebrate. It is that heritage which I believe it’s important that Wembley Park residents and visitors deserve to have returned to them!

 

The petition is supported by background information, which I submitted with it. A Council Governance Officer informed me that they had made several ‘factual amendments’ to it, and although I told them that what I had written was factually correct, I had to accept their version, so my petition could be published. 

 

For those interested, I will set out my original text below. Council Officers did not want you to know that Cabinet members were not told about the tile murals when they were asked to award the current advertising lease, and that the lease was secretly extended by three years (in a very “dodgy deal”!).

 

Background information:

 

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’.

 

Stephanie Moore, opening the subway and its murals in 1993. (Courtesy of Ray Pepper)

 

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. Brent’s Cabinet agreed to grant a further four-year advertising lease in January 2018, but were not told about the tile murals on the subway walls, which the adverts would continue to hide from public view.

 

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. Later that year, Council Officers secretly extended the advertising lease for a further three years, to 30 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.

 

Composite image showing tile murals on the east wall of the subway.
(Image thought to be by Amanda Rose, for Quintain, in 2019)

 

I hope you’ll agree that these colourful tile mural scenes do deserve to be back on display, so that everyone passing through the subway can enjoy them, and get a feel for a century of Wembley Park’s history as “the venue of legends”.

 

It will only take a couple of minutes online to sign the petition, passing a couple of security tests to show that you live, work or study in Brent, and that you are a real person, not some automated “bot”. When you get to the final page, which repeats the petition, please scroll down to the bottom, where you will find the “SIGN PETITION” box to click on. Thank you!

 

Philip Grant.

An Olympic Games tile mural – let’s get it back on permanent display!

 Guest post by local Historian Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

On 1 January 2022 I shared with you an open letter that I’d sent to Quintain’s Chief Executive Officer, seeking his agreement that his company would not seek to renew its advertisement consent, covering the tile murals on the walls of Olympic Way. I thought I’d made a good case, and was very pleased to receive a positive response two months later.

 

The sports tile murals on the east wall of Olympic Way, back on display in August 2022.

 

As well as uncovering the American Football, Rugby League and Ice Hockey tile mural scenes in 2022, Quintain’s Wembley Park company also commissioned a new mural. This replaced the missing section of the former “Live Aid” mural, beside the drummer which was the only section left of the original 1993 design. Since it was completed last November, Paul Marks’s “Reverb” mural has been added to the Wembley Park Art Trail.

 

The ”Reverb” tile mural, nearing completion in November 2022.

 

Regular readers will know that Wembley History Society has been campaigning since April 2018 to get Quintain and Brent Council to put all of the Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals, celebrating Wembley’s sports and entertainment heritage, back on permanent public display. Our first success was the mural scene in the subway, showing England footballers playing at the “twin towers” Wembley Stadium, which was left uncovered when Quintain (with Brent Council’s consent) replaced their vinyl advertising sheets in the subway with LED light panels.

 

The “Footballers” mural, flanked by LED light panels.

 

Now, 2023 provides an opportunity to get another of the subway’s mural scenes back on display. As well as marking the centenary of the original Wembley Stadium, the year will also be the 75^th anniversary of the 1948 London Olympic Games, for which Olympic Way was built. I hope that it will also see the mural celebrating those Games uncovered, in recognition of that important part of Wembley’s sporting heritage.

 

The Olympic Torch tile mural, beside a photograph from the 1948 Games opening ceremony.

 

So, this New Year I’ve sent another open letter to Quintain’s Chief Executive Officer, James Saunders. This is its full text:

 

This is an open letter

1 January 2023

Dear Mr Saunders, 

 

The 1948 Olympic Torch tile mural at Bobby Moore Bridge, Wembley Park.

 

Happy New Year! 2022 was a good year for Olympic Way, and I am hoping that, with your support, 2023 can be even better.

 

Following my 1 January 2022 letter to you, and your reply of 2 March, it was good to see the three sporting tile mural scenes on the east wall of Olympic Way back on permanent display from August 2022. They have been appreciated and enjoyed by residents and visitors ever since. More recently, the “Reverb” mural by Paul Marks, on the opposite wall beside the original drummer, has brightened up that space, although I must admit to some disappointment that it could not have related more closely with the “Live Aid” stadium concert theme.

 

During 2022, I have continued to work with Quintain’s Wembley Park team on projects to promote the history of Olympic Way. There are several additions to enhance the sharing of that history with visitors nearing completion, but I am writing to suggest another one.

 

In April 2023 we will celebrate the centenary of the original Wembley Stadium, and in July 2023 the 75^th anniversary of the 1948 London Olympic Games, for which Olympic Way was built. One of the tile murals in the Bobby Moore Bridge subway, the first scene on the left as you come down the steps from the station, was designed to celebrate that heritage at the start of the famous route to the stadium:-

 

This mural, which depicts an Olympic torch relay runner on his way to the stadium for the opening ceremony of the 1948 Games, with the Olympic flag behind him, is currently hidden behind LED light panels. My suggestion is that this mural scene should be uncovered, and put on display for the 75^th anniversary in July 2023 (and hopefully, permanently). 

 

The Olympic Torch mural is next to the “footballers” mural scene, which is already on display, so that it should not be too difficult to extend the lighting “frame” around that scene to include this mural celebrating the 1948 Olympic Games at Wembley Park, once the three or four light panels covering it, and their supports, have been removed.

 

I will email a digital copy of this letter to members of your team at Wembley Park, who I am already in touch with over other local history enhancements for Olympic Way. 

 

I look forward to hearing from you that displaying the Olympic Games mural scene will be another addition to those enhancements by the summer of 2023. Thank you.

 

Yours sincerely,

Philip Grant.

UPDATED WITH COMMENT: (Some of) Wembley Park’s sporting heritage uncovered

Guest blog by Philip Grant in personal capacity

Quintain representatives remove barriers in front of the Ice Hockey mural, while Brent Communications team discuss plans for the photo shoot, ahead of the “reveal” of three tile mural scenes on 18 January.

It may be hard to believe, after the battle I was involved in with Quintain and Brent Council’s planners six months ago LINK , but last Saturday afternoon I was celebrating the “reveal” of three of the Bobby Moore Bridge tile mural scenes with Brent’s Mayor, Council Leader and Lead Member for Culture, and representatives from Quintain!

Back in November, I had written to Josh McNorton, of Quintain’s Wembley Park Arts organisation, to try to get at least some of the tile murals put back on public display during this London Borough of Culture year LINK. Now, the Council and Wembley Park are making it part of their LBOC 2020 offering.

I was one of two members of Wembley History Society invited by Brent to take part in the event, and we were warmly welcomed by Cllr. Ernest Ezeajughi and his Council colleagues. After lots of photographs (for both the Council and Wembley Park) short speeches were filmed from the Mayor, Julian Tollast of Quintain and W.H.S. Chair Jim Moher, to be used in Brent’s LBOC social media. 

I was then asked if I would be willing to “speak to camera” about why the murals were there and what they showed. It was an opportunity I felt that I had to take, but in case what was recorded does not make it beyond the editing stage, I will give some more information about the parts of Wembley’s sporting heritage shown by the three mural scenes which will be on show, but only until 24^th February.

The Ice Hockey mural can be seen in the first image above. The Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena) opened in 1934, providing a large public swimming pool in summer which could be covered over for other events, especially ice hockey and public ice skating through the winter months. From October that year, two teams used the ice hockey rink, the Wembley Lions and the Wembley Monarchs (originally known as the Wembley Canadians, they retained the maple leaf as their badge). The Wembley Lions were national ice hockey league champions in 1936, 1937, 1952 and 1957, and played their last match in 1968.

Wembley Lions team photo, from a 1937 ice hockey programme.

The middle of the three mural scenes, on the east wall of Olympic Way just as you come out from the Bobby Moore Bridge subway, celebrates Rugby League. I can’t help wondering whether the large pillar, installed by Quintain for lighting and adverts, would have been moved somewhere else if the tile murals had not been covered with vinyl advertising sheets when it was put in place!

The Rugby League mural, as it is now.

The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final used to be played at one of a number of club grounds in the north of England, but by the late 1920’s a larger venue was needed for the event. Arthur Elvin, whose company had saved Wembley Stadium by buying it from the British Empire Exhibition’s liquidator, put on a good show for the 1928 F.A. Cup Final, with a marching band and community singing. Even though their team lost, the Huddersfield Town football fans went home very happy with their outing, which lead the Rugby League to give Wembley a try [no pun intended?] for their final in May 1929.

Crowds outside Wembley Stadium at the 1948 Challenge Cup Final.

Since then, apart from 1940-45 (because of the Second World War) and 2000-2006 (when the stadium was being rebuilt), the Challenge Cup Final has been played at Wembley every year, providing the sport's annual "big day out" at the National Stadium. The BBC first televised the match live in 1948, and that still continues as well, so that Rugby League has been part of our local sporting heritage for over 90 years.

The American Football mural.

American Football’s history at Wembley does not go back quite as far. The first NFL game at the Stadium was played in 1983, but the first American Football match there took place 40 years earlier, during the Second World War. It was probably between teams representing the U.S. Air Force and U.S. ground forces who were stationed in England, in preparation for the invasion of Europe in 1944. I wrote about this in a "guest blog" article in 2017 LINK .

Please go and see these tile mural scenes if you can, take photographs and share them on social media. These vivid mural pictures, made entirely from oblong ceramic tiles, are part of a public work of art that celebrates Wembley Park’s rich sporting heritage. In putting these mural scenes on show, as part of the Brent’s LBOC 2020 events, the Council has finally acknowledged their cultural importance. I hope that they won’t forget that, next time a decision has to be made about whether the murals should continue to be covered over with adverts.

(No doubt someone will remind them, should it slip their memory.)

"The Mayor with representatives of Brent Council, Quintain and Wembley History Society at the "reveal" of the tile murals on 18 January"
Photograph by Francis Waddington of Wembley History Society

Update on the Bobby Moore mural as fans pour into Wembley for the FA Community Shield

 Guest update post by Philip Grant

Because of the crowds coming to the F.A. Community Shield match at Wembley Stadium this week-end (Sunday 4^th August), the barriers around the work being carried out in the Bobby Moore Bridge subway have been removed. It was possible to get a closer look at the work in progress, to cover up most of the tile murals with illuminated advertising panels.

First, the good news! For the first time since October 2013, residents and visitors can see the mural scene showing England footballers and the old “twin towers” Wembley Stadium, including the plaque unveiled by Bobby Moore’s widow, when the subway and murals were opened in September 1993.

This mural scene will continue to be on view in future. That was the only concession which Quintain were willing to make, in response to the call made jointly to them and Brent Council, by Wembley History Society in April 2018 LINK, to put ALL of the tile murals back on permanent public display.

The work on the west wall of the subway has already put a permanent covering over two thirds of the mural scenes, but two were visible on Saturday. The scene of a pianist accompanying a concert singer, had already been partly covered, so that it is difficult to identify who the female vocalist is (possibly Shirley Bassey or Whitney Houston?). If anyone knows the answer, or has another idea, please share it in a comment below!

At the south end of the subway’s west wall, the mural shows another scene from the Olympic torch relay, this time with the flame which burned at the Stadium throughout the 1948 Games. Together with the torchbearer and Olympic flag scene at the entrance to the subway, they were designed to welcome visitors to Olympic Way, the great “processional route” to the “Venue of Legends” that is Wembley. Both scenes will soon be covered over with illuminated advertising panels, perhaps never to be seen again.

As shown in the previous post (Wembley Park’s tile murals – now you see them – soon you won’t! LINK), the work to fix the illuminated panels was not meant to cause any damage to the tile murals. However, some of the electrical equipment already fixed over the 1948 Olympic show jumping mural scene appears to have damaged the tiles beneath. How much more of this heritage asset are we going to lose, before Quintain have finished their work on OUR Bobby Moore Bridge tile murals?

Philip Grant.