Skip to content

Description

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.

Practical Information

Previously known as Wembley Town Hall
Site location Forty Lane/The Paddocks, Wembley Park
Postcode HA9 9LY
What3Words ///format.seated.adjust
Type of Site Public Gardens
Borough Brent
Open to Public No
Public Transport Tube: Wembley Park (Jubilee, Metropolitan). Bus: 83, 182, 245, 297.
Research Updated 26 November 2024
Last Updated 18 October 2026

Full description

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. 


Further Information

Grid Reference TQ198866
Site Ownership Lycée International de Londres
Site Management Lycée International de Londres
Dates 1935-40
Designers 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 Brent
In Conservation Area No
Tree Preservation Order No
Nature Conservation Area No
Green Belt No
Metropolitan Open Land No
Special Policy Area No

Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.

Nearby parks and gardens

  • Brent
  • 0.6 miles away
Although there was almost certainly a church here in Saxon times the present building dates from at least the C12th or C13th with later additions. The Old Church became redundant when a larger church was called for to serve the growing population of Kingsbury and St Andrew's New Church, itself redundant in its original location in the West End, was re-erected here in 1931-4. The old church stands in its overgrown churchyard, which has many old yew trees, a row of lime trees along the west side, a lych-gate and good C18th and C19th monuments hidden in the undergrowth.
St Andrew's Old Churchyard, June 2001. Photo: S Williams
  • Brent
  • 0.7 miles away
Part of Fryent Country Park has the remains of Barn Hill Farm, an C18th landscaped farm that was part of Wembley Park estate. In the late C18th, land owner Richard Page sought the advice of Humphry Repton who was employed at Wembley Park. Remnants of his scheme survive such as the belt of trees running down from the hilltop and crossing Brampton Grove and Basing Hill. The area was saved from development, firstly in 1927 when 50 acres of wood and hilltop were conveyed to Wembley UDC for Barn Hill Open Space. Then, after Fryent Way opened in 1935, Middlesex County Council compulsorily purchased what was largely farmland to keep it public open space.
Fryent Country Park, June 2001. Photo: S Williams
  • Brent
  • 0.7 miles away
Lawns Court was a speculative housing development by Messrs Haymills designed in the International or Moderne style popular in the 1930s, with careful regard to the relationship between buildings and open space. The low-rise blocks are set back from The Avenue, fronted by a low brick retaining wall and hedges that forms the boundary of a communal green planted with grass and trees. Behind and to either side of this garden are the front gardens of ground floor flats formed as a continuous landscape strip.
Lawns Court, undated postcard. Courtesy of Brent Archives