A YEAR since Ealing Council announced the closure of Victoria Hall, campaigners are calling for it to be brought back into use for community events.

It was closed in September last year, along with Prince’s Hall and Ealing Town Hall.

The council owns the town hall, but not the Victoria Hall and Prince’s Hall. They are owned by the Victoria Hall Trust (VHT), a charity formed in 1893 primarily to ensure it is available for community use. 

The Friends of the Victoria Hall are now calling for it to be re-opened.

The reason given for the 2023 hall closures was health and safety issues, but a report outlining these issues is yet to be published.

Ealing Council made itself sole trustee of VHT in 2017, having announced in 2016 it was disposing of the halls in a 250-year lease to a hotel developer, which has planning permission.

Since then, FoVH says all attempts to discuss the hall’s future with the council have been rebuffed. 

A new plan by the council and the Charity Commission will soon go to a public consultation.

If closure is confirmed, events that will need to find a new venue include orchestral and choral concerts, exhibitions, discos, amateur dramatics, music and religious festivals, weddings, political meetings, NHS rehab classes and election counts.