Inventory Site Record

The Town Hall was built in 1937-39 for the newly formed Wembley borough council, following a competition won by Clifford Strange. It became Brent Town Hall when Wembley and Willesden were amalgamated in 1964. The plain brick building is set back from the main road behind a wide strip of terraced lawn, fronted by a brick wall to the pavement. Trees planted along the back of the garden include ornamental species such as Catalpa, and the lawn has island beds. To the east is an annexe with another garden area, used for weddings. After the Town Hall closed it was acquired for the Lycée International de Londres Winston Churchill, a bilingual international school for children aged 3 to 18, which opened in 2015.

Previous / Other name:

Wembley Town Hall

Site location:

Forty Lane/The Paddocks, Wembley Park

Postcode:

HA9 9LY

What 3 Words:

format.seated.adjust

Type of site:

Public Gardens

Borough:

Brent

Open to public?

No

Opening times:

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Wembley Park (Jubilee, Metropolitan). Bus: 83, 182, 245, 297.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

26/11/2024

Last minor changes:

29/03/2026

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. https://www.lyceeinternational.london/

The Town Hall was built in 1937-39 for the newly formed Wembley Borough Council, following a competition won by the architect Clifford Strange. It became Brent Town Hall when Wembley and Willesden were amalgamated in 1964. Strange was influenced by Dutch architect W M Dudok, and the town hall and its setting was admired by Pevsner who commented on the "well planted garden to the east whose trees provide just the right foil to the plain brickwork behind". Below the entrance front on the south are terraced lawns to the pavement, with floral displays and shrubs, and axial steps leading up to the front entrance. In 1948 the Town Hall was decorated with the logo, flags and banners for the London Olympics, which were the first to be shown on television; a photograph of the gardens in front of the Town Hall at that time shows no trees in evidence. Over the years the gardens were planted with trees including a number of memorial trees that had plaques, some commemorating local councillors and others commemorating major or world events, including the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Abolition of Slavery. North-east of the Town Hall, a small prefab Annexe was erected on a terraced lawn; a photograph of 1939 shows this area as yet undeveloped. The garden here was richly planted, with many Willows and specimen trees, and was used by wedding guests for photographs.

When Wembley amalgamated with Willesden to form the London Borough of Brent in April 1965 the building became the headquarters for the new council and was renamed Brent Town Hall. It was also used as a concert and events venue, where bands such as The Who appeared in 1965.

In 2009 Brent Council unsuccessfully applied to have the building delisted, which would have enabled them to redevelop the site with new facilities. As a consequence the new Brent Civic Centre was built near Wembley Stadium, where Brent Council moved in 2013. The old town hall site was sold to the French Education Charitable Trust in 2012 for the Lycée International de Londres Winston Churchill, a bilingual international school for pupils aged 3 -18. The new school was built in 2014/15 and opened in September 2015. A proposal to build a swimming pool on the site of the garden in front of the building was eventually rejected, following a local campaign to save the garden. The school campus includes areas of landscaping. 

The garden fronting Forty Lane remains, now maintained by the school. It retains a number of the memorial trees although some trees have been removed, including 2 willows. Some of the memorial plaques originally in the memorial garden have now been incorporated into the new formal garden next to Brent Civic Centre. 

Sources consulted:

Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England London 3: North West' (Penguin, 1999 ed), p142, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, 'The London Encyclopaedia' (Macmillan, revised ed. 1993) p85; Len Snow 'Brent Wembley, Willesden and Kingsbury, A Pictorial History' (Phillimore, 1900); Adam Spencer, 'Wembley and Kingsbury: Britain in Old Photographs', Sutton Publishing 1995; Tristan Kirk, 'Brent Town Hall Could be Delisted, Harrow Times, 9 March 2009: https://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/4186739.print/; https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2017/04/wembley-lycee-restores-memorial-gardens.html;https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-future-for-brent-town-hall.html https://wembleymatters.blogspot.com/2015/12/offficers-recommend-approval-for.html

Grid ref:

TQ198866 (519734,186704)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

Lycée International de Londres

Site management:

Lycée International de Londres

Date(s):

1935-40

Designer(s):

Clifford Strange

Listed structures:

LBII: Town Hall

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None

Brent Town Hall, June 2001. Photo: S Williams

Click a photo to enlarge.