Staines Town Hall, when it was a pub

Image: © Sean Davis Taken: 24 Jul 2007

Staines Town Hall was designed by John Johnson, architect and District Surveyor of East Hackney, and was completed in 1880 in a Flemish Renaissance style with Italian and French motifs. It took nine years to build and cost a princely sum of £5,000. To make way for it the old small spired market-house was pulled down, as were a number of buildings to the east. This widened the street to form the Market Square and provided the site for the Memorial Gardens which were completed in 1897. However, there does seem to be a slight flaw - if you look closely at the front dial on the clock you will notice two XI, one at 9 and one at 11. The reason we have the Town Hall is due to the Rennie Brothers choosing a site 200m upstream from earlier bridges to build the present bridge. It left a dead-end onto the river at a space where the bottom of old High Street led to the bridge. Locals complained by building the Town Hall with its back to the river, Staines had turned its back on the river. We are still lucky to have this wonderful building as in the early 1970s Staines Urban Borough Council voted by just one not to knock it down. It was thanks to a campaign by concerned local residents which tipped the balance. This led to the formation of the Staines Town Society, a charity whose purpose is to protect the old buildings and heritage of the town. Sources claim Sir Walter Raleigh was tried here, but this is not correct. It was here he was committed in 1603, before his trial at Winchester. Over the years the Town Hall was used for many public events, including boxing tournaments, the local archaeological group, opera and stage plays. Famous rock bands who played here during the 1960s and 70s included, The Who, The Yarbirds and The Jaywalkers (with Richie Blackmore). The town hall was used for the court scene in the 1982 film Gandhi, where Judge Bloomfield sentences Ghandi to six years imprisonment for sedition. It also featured in the 2002 film Ali G Indahouse (also see Wikipedia). Staines Town Hall was mainly occupied by the local council, under different names from it opened until 1972, when Staines Urban District Council moved to new offices at Knowle Green. The local Magistrates Court was based her between October 1967 and March 1976, when it also moved to new offices at Knowle Green. The Old Town Hall opened as new Arts Centre in 1993; officially opened on 15 April 1994 by actor and director Kenneth Branagh. In 2004 the building became a “Smith & Jones” pub. However, when I went there recently at lunchtime, it seemed to have been abandoned and signs on the windows were advertising the leasehold of the building being up for sale. Both of the red telephone kiosks at the front of the Town Hall, although looking a bit shabby here, are grade II listed. On the side of the Town Hall, a plaque remembers “The Trafalgar Way”. This was the 271 mile route taken “express by post-chaise” by Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotiere between 4th & 6th November 1805. He travelled from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London, carrying the news of the momentous victory and the death in action of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. In total he took 37 hours and made 21 stops at coaching inns to change horses; the 20th of these stops was at the Bush Inn at Staines. The Bush was behind where the Town Hall now sits and next to the old Staines Bridge. Ironically, a second plaque states, Lord Nelson stayed at the Bush Inn (apparently with Lady Hamilton) in July 1801 and just four years before his death. This is on the Thames Path National Trail and on the route of the London Green Belt Way.

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