The History of the Town Hall area through the years.

For centuries the Hythe on the other side of the river, (close to the Swan Inn,) was the site of one end of the earliest Staines Bridge, the other end came on land near to where the Town Hall stands. (See above photo)

The old small road alongside where the Town Hall is now, was always busy with traffic and people coming and going across the old bridge that ended there.

A Market House stood upon the area of Market Square since 1662

Prior to the Town Hall there were a number of public houses/Inns on the land it stands on. One the 'Black Boy', was on Black Boy Lane from at least 1730. The King's Head was also on Black Boy Lane it was licensed in 1730 and both were demolished in the 1870's to make way for the new Town Hall. The Mail Coach was a 'beerhouse' on the Market Square area. it dated back to 1852. Also demolished for the Town Hall to be erected. The largest was the Bush Inn. Thousands of people traversed the road to and from the West and stopped there for refreshments or to rest for the night. It stood almost where the town Hall is now.The land it had went down all the way to the river. I imagine they could stable a lot of horses as well as making people comfortable. The Vine Inn was close to the Bush, and probably shared in the travellers who passed by. The Bush was also the meeting-place of the justices of the Staines division and other local bodies. It was rebuilt as the 'Clarence' on Church Street/Clarence Street at the same time as the new bridge. (Now the London Stone)

The Town Hall was designed by John Johnson, it is built of white brick and beer stone dressings. It cost £5,000 to build.


Telephone boxes were placed either side of the entrance to the Town Hall in 1936, these are known as 'K6' or the 'Jubilee Kiosks' to commemmorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. They are registered as 'Grade 11 Listed buildings'. They cannot be removed from thie location.

The clock is known for a mistake on one of the three faces, both 9 and 11 have the number XI instead of IX and XI.

In 1947, More than 70 families from the flooded areas were given temporary accommodation in the Town Hall when they had to evacuate their homes. My first memory was these floods, we lived down Chertsey Lane, and I remember mum holding me, while talking to a man outside in what was our garden, he was in a boat, (now I presume it had to have been a flat bottomed boat, maybe a punt,) she said that we were OK as our house was built on stilts to stop us being flooded out. We didn't need to evacuate. The man shouted, 'Alright love as long as you are safe I will leave you', and he rowed to the next house. I think my mum must have been scared because it was something I remember vividly and I was only about 18 months old.

1966
Going to these dances we had to put small plastic covers on our heels, because stilletos made holes in the wooden floor of the Town Hall. Quite a few famous groups including The Yardbirds, performed there in the 60's. 7/- (7 shillings) is equal to 35 pence in today's money! They were always good nights, first to the Las Vegas cafe on Thames Street for a blackcurrant drink and to meet up with friends, then we would all walk over to the Town Hall. Always, eventually, some boys would have a fight and so we girls would leave and walk home.

Over the years the Town Hall was used for various public events, such as dances, amateur dramatics, boxing tournaments, Opera, an Arts Centre, cellar bar, psychic fairs, and Christmas fairs, I remember in about 1972, a Victorian Faire where an ox was roasted on a spit out in the Market Square.

The Council eventually sold the Town Hall in 2005. This action saddened the Townspeople almost as much as when the White Lion pub was demolished. The people had memories of both buildings. The money to build the Town Hall had come from public subscriptions, and so the residents of Staines felt it belonged to them. It should never have been sold. It then became a pub for a while.

Now in 2021, to top it off the building has been made into 13 apartments, pretty nice from what I have seen, and also pretty expensive, so the people who bought it have done well for themselves.