Mizter T wrote:


On Aug 1, 9:19*pm, "Richard J." wrote:

Franklin wrote on
01 August 2010 16:00:07 ...

In a year or two I expect to be visiting the main Olympic stadium.
*I
'm
considering a side trip to visit the civic hall for the Wimbledon
area.

Approximately how far is it and how much time should I allow for
the journey?

What do you mean by "the civic hall for the Wimbledon area"?
*Wimbledon is in the London Borough of Merton, whose main
headquarters is at the Civic Centre, London Road, Morden, SM4 5DX,
near Morden Underground station (Northern Line) and about 2 miles
from Wimbledon.

Thanks Richard - exactly the point I was going to make!


Until 1965, Wimbledon was a borough with a town hall (built 1931) at
the corner of Queens Road and Wimbledon Bridge, near Wimbledon
station. *It is no longer a council building; Google Street View
shows a Tesco Metro supermarket in the building.

The former Wimbledon Town Hall building is now part of the "Centre
Court" shopping centre, which has a Tesco Metro on the ground floor.
So, "Wimbledon Town Hall" doesn't really exist any more - at least,
it's not somewhere someone would going in connection with any civil
(i.e. council) activities, such as a meeting.

Until the construction of the shopping centre, it was indeed used as
the Town Hall for the London Borough of Merton, but the council's HQ
moved to Mitcham circa 1990 to make way for the new development in
Wimbledon.

There also used to be a Civic Hall in Wimbledon which was I think
behind the Town Hall building, but this got demolished as part of the
new development - promises were apparently made by the (then
Conservative) council that a new facility would be constructed in
Wimbledon, but that never happened - since then I understand there
have been various campaigns to get some sort of new local hall space
in Wimbledon, for example this page on the Wimbledon Choral Society's
website documents the push for a Wimbledon Arts Cent
http://www.wimbledon-choral.org.uk/library/lib-hall-campaign.html

Proponents of a "Big Society" might do well to bear in mind the need
for civic spaces in which societies, and indeed society, can
flourish. (I expect that if the OP is still reading this they're
wondering what I'm on about!)

I am thinking of visiting the town hall for Wimbledon to rummage
through public files in order to find an old friend. I've lost touch
with him but I figure there is some info in the local government
offices: perhaps a building permit in his name, perhaps a statement he
made at a public meeting, perhaps feedback he gave on local development
plans.

Here you can't search local records electronically. You have to visit
in person. Is Wimbledon/Merton the same?