56-465: Slough Town Hall is a former municipal building in Bath Road, Slough , Berkshire , England. The town hall was the headquarters of Slough Borough Council until 2011. The building has been used as a school since 2012. From 1909 until 1937, Slough Urban District Council was based at a converted house called "The Cedars" at 4 William Street. Following significant population growth, largely associated with
112-430: A clock tower with a belfry and finial at roof level. To the left there was a wing of ten bays with the end bay projected forward as a pavilion but to the right there was wing of just two bays suggesting that the architects had identified this area for future expansion. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which benefited from fine oak and walnut panelling. Following further industrial development
168-644: A dilapidated block of flats and the closing of the public house the Jolly Londoner in Wentworth Avenue and replacing them with new homes, as well as relocating the shopping parade in the street to nearby Kennedy Park. As part of the Heart of Slough project, construction work on a new bus station began in March 2010, following weeks of demolition work to half of the existing bus station and the removal of Compair House near
224-620: A field near the Great Western Road Railway Station belonging to the North Star Inn . Originally held on the first Tuesday of every month, the Cattle Market's popularity soon saw this increased to every Tuesday. A move to Wexham Street was necessitated by the postwar redevelopment of the town. The Slough Cattle Market was run by Messrs Buckland and Sons until its final closure in 1988. In 1906, James Horlick , one of
280-692: A large area of agricultural land to the west of Slough developed as an army motor repair depot, used to store and repair huge numbers of motor vehicles coming back from the battlefields of the First World War in Flanders . In April 1920, the Government sold the site and its contents to the Slough Trading Co. Ltd. Repair of ex-army vehicles continued until 1925, when the Slough Trading Company Act
336-616: A mixed-use complex, multi-functional buildings, visual landmarks and a public space in the Thames Valley . Approval was given for the £400 million project by Slough Borough Council's planning committee on 9 July 2009, and work began in 2010 for completion in 2018. In December 2009, two key components of the project were signed: the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) signed its agreement to provide £11m of funding for infrastructure and Thames Valley University (TVU) courses which were due to remain in
392-562: A nearby office building at St Martin's Place, 51 Bath Road, pending a more permanent home for the council being found closer to the town centre. The council proposed that, in order to maximise the value of the site, the town hall should be demolished and site used for residential development. English Heritage recommended that the building be included, as a listed building , on the National Heritage List for England but, in February 2010,
448-449: A result of a raid on the 13th), and an emergency hospital treating casualties from London was set up in Slough. Local air raid deaths and deaths at the hospital account for the 23 civilian lives recorded lost in the borough area. After the war, several further large housing developments arose to take large numbers of people migrating from war-damaged London. Between 1955 and 1957 the town was
504-499: A review of the decision. During November 2016, the Slough Queensmere and Observatory shopping centres were sold to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in a deal worth £130 million. Slough is 20 miles (32 km) west of Charing Cross , central London , 2 miles (3 km) north of Windsor , 5 miles (8 km) east of Maidenhead , 11 miles (18 km) south-east of High Wycombe and 19 miles (31 km) north-east of
560-682: Is Heathrow Airport , about 5 miles (8 km) east of Slough town centre. This part of the Thames Valley is notable for generally having the warmest daytime summer temperatures on average in the British Isles . Typically, according to 1981–2010 normals, the average high temperature in July is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F.) Rainfall is low compared to most of the British Isles, with under 600 mm (23.62 in) annually, and 105 days reporting over 1 mm of rain. Faith in Slough (2021) According to
616-510: Is a town in Berkshire , England, in the Thames Valley 20 miles (32 km) west of central London and 19 miles (31 km) north-east of Reading , at the intersection of the M4 , M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire . In 2021 Census, the population of the town was 143,184. In 2021, the wider Borough of Slough had a population of 158,500. Slough borders
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#1732883633163672-606: Is housed in the Mere. Recent new offices include those of Nintendo , Black and Decker and Abbey business centres . The registered office of Furniture Village lies in the town. The motor trade has long been represented in Slough. Until 1966, Citroën assembled cars in a Liverpool Road factory (later used by Mars Confectionery ), and it retains its UK headquarters in the town. Ford built D Series and Cargo lorries at its factory in Langley (a former Hawker Aircraft site) from 1936 to
728-540: Is significantly lower due to the large shares of the British Asian and Black population speaking English as their first language. Aside from English, the most commonly spoken languages are Punjabi , Polish , and Urdu . Figures from the 2021 census showed that 32% of Slough's population identified as Christian, 29.4% as Muslim, 11.4% as Sikh, 7.8% as Hindu, 0.5% as Buddhist, 0.1% as Jewish, 0.5% as having other religions, 13% as having no religion and 5.4% did not answer
784-454: Is the largest industrial estate in single private ownership in Europe, with over 17,000 jobs in 400 businesses. Blackberry , McAfee , Burger King , DHL , Telefonica and Lego have head offices in the town. The name was first recorded in 1195 as Slo . It first seems to have applied to a hamlet between Upton to the east and Chalvey to the west, roughly around the "Crown Crossroads" where
840-485: The 2021 census , Slough is a large town with a population of 158,400 of which 46.9% of the population was Asian , 35.9% white , 7.5% black , 4% mixed race , 1.2% Arab and 4.5% of other ethnic heritage. This makes the town one of the most ethnically diverse local authorities in the country outside of London. Despite its diverse population, English is the most spoken language in 2021, with over 110,212 citing English as their first language. Those stating other languages
896-474: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport decided to disregard the advice and ruled that the building should not be listed. The Twentieth Century Society unsuccessfully tried to have that decision overturned, saying that it believed that "the redevelopment of the town hall would be an act of vandalism to the civic centre". The council held its last meeting in the town hall on 19 December 2011. Although
952-570: The Elizabeth line , a new railway line across central London opened in 2022. Observatory House Observatory House was the name of an 18th-century observatory established by William and Caroline Herschel in Windsor Street, Slough. After the original building had been demolished, the name was re-applied to a modern office block on the same site which now serves as the headquarters of Slough Borough Council . The original Observatory House
1008-569: The Municipal Borough of Slough was replaced by a larger non-metropolitan district with borough status called Slough. The enlarged district gained the Britwell and Wexham Court areas, and was transferred from Buckinghamshire to Berkshire. The borough was enlarged in 1995 to take in Colnbrook with Poyle . In 1998 Slough Borough Council became a unitary authority when Berkshire County Council
1064-554: The county town of Reading . Slough is within the Greater London Urban Area and on the border with London Borough of Hillingdon and London Borough of Hounslow . Heathrow Airport is 5 miles away. Nearby towns are Uxbridge to the northeast and Beaconsfield to the north. Most of the area that now makes up Slough was anciently part of Buckinghamshire , however, Poyle was historically in Middlesex. The town developed by
1120-557: The 1950s until the site was redeveloped for housing in the 1990s. Ferrari , Mercedes , Fiat and Maserati now have offices in the town. Located roughly 20 miles (32 km) west of Central London , Slough is a commuter town near Heathrow Airport (7 miles (11 km) south-east), Uxbridge (6 miles (9.7 km) north-east), Maidenhead (5 miles (8.0 km) west) and Staines (7 miles (11 km) south-east). Slough residents also commute to Windsor, Reading and Bracknell as well as Central London. There are large passenger movements in
1176-530: The 1960s, Gerry Anderson 's film company was based in Slough, and his Supermarionation series, including Thunderbirds , were filmed there. The UK headquarters of Mars, Incorporated is in Slough, the main factory having been established in 1932 by Forrest Mars Sr. and Frank C. Mars . It produced the Mars Bar in Slough over 70 years ago. One of the Mars factories has been demolished and some production has moved to
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#17328836331631232-500: The 40-foot telescope was located. The monument was designed by the Czech sculptor Franta Belsky . The site was redeveloped again in the early 1990s, with the new building again called Observatory House. The building was then refurbished by Kier Group to a design by Elsworth Sykes Architects ("ESA") for developers, XLB, in 2017. Following completion of the works, the 10-storey building was bought by Slough Borough Council in July 2018 for
1288-461: The Czech Republic. The European head offices of major IT companies such as BlackBerry , McAfee , Computer Associates , PictureTel and Compusys (among others) are all in the town. O 2 is headquartered in the town across four buildings. The town is also home to the business support organisation Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group and National Foundation for Educational Research , which
1344-415: The area was advanced to the status of municipal borough with the town hall as its headquarters in 1938. Although highly critical of what he perceived as the overdevelopment of Slough, the future Poet Laureate , Sir John Betjeman , described the architecture of the building favourably, as "a striving for unity out of chaos". The building continued to serve as the headquarters of the local borough council for
1400-452: The building had not been listed, it was decided not to demolish it after all. The town hall building was subsequently refurbished at a cost of £1.5 million and was re-opened as a primary school in 2012, with the building now being called Old Town Hall, 19 Bath Road. Slough Borough Council later acquired Observatory House at 25 Windsor Road in 2018 to become its new headquarters in the town centre. Slough Slough ( / s l aʊ / )
1456-400: The central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a doorway flanked by stone pilasters supporting an entablature bearing the words "Town Hall". There were three tall windows with stone surrounds and iron balconies on the first floor, five small square windows on the second floor and a large pediment containing the town's coat of arms in the tympanum : there was
1512-577: The ceremonial counties of Greater London and Buckinghamshire . Slough's population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the United Kingdom, attracting people from across the country and the world for labour since the 1920s, which has helped shape it into a major trading centre. In 2017, unemployment stood at 1.4%, one-third the UK average of 4.5%. Slough has the highest concentration of UK HQs of global companies outside London. Slough Trading Estate
1568-414: The development of the local industrial estate by The Slough Trading Co. , civic leaders decided to procure a purpose-built town hall: the site they selected was open land on the south side of Bath Road situated among a row of large residential properties. The chosen site was relatively detached from the town centre, being 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of the main shopping areas on High Street. The project
1624-511: The expansion and amalgamation of villages along the Great West Road . Over the years Slough has expanded greatly, incorporating a number of different villages. Original villages that are now suburbs of Slough include Chalvey , Cippenham , Colnbrook , Langley , Poyle , Upton , and Wexham . Named neighbourhoods include Brands Hill, Britwell , Huntercombe , Manor Park, Salt Hill , Upton Lea and Windsor Meadows . The urban area merges into
1680-429: The founders of the eponymous malted milk company, opened a purpose-built red-brick factory near Slough Railway Station to manufacture his malted milk product. In 2015, the business was sold by Glaxo Smith Kline and in 2017, manufacturing at the site ceased altogether. The site is currently proposed to become residential making use of the original buildings as much as possible. Starting in the 1920s, Slough Estates Ltd ,
1736-412: The garage was a section of the 40 ft telescope still sitting there. Observatory House was demolished in 1963. In the mid-1960s, the site was redeveloped with an office block, also called Observatory House, being erected there, while the adjoining road to the north was named Hershel Street in recognition of the astronomers. A monument to Herschel was erected in 1969 on Herschel Street, close to where
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1792-457: The house to Hawkhurst in 1840. However, the house continued to be owned by the Herschel family until 1960. There is a poignant section of one of the early programmes by Sir Patrick Moore on BBC "The Sky at Night", which was aired in 1960. Moore talks about the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel and how he (Moore) had visited the house, which was "now empty and likely to be demolished." In
1848-500: The last 20 or so years, there has been a major shift from a manufacturing to an information-based economy, with the closure of many factories (some of which had been in Slough for many decades). The factories are rapidly being replaced by office buildings. Hundreds of major companies have sited in Slough Trading Estate over the years, with its proximity to London Heathrow Airport and good motorway connections being attractive. In
1904-589: The mid-17th century, stagecoaches began to pass through Slough and Salt Hill (later absorbed into Slough), which became locations for the second stage to change horses on the journey out from London. By 1838 and the opening of the Great Western Railway , Upton-cum-Chalvey's parish population had reached 1,502. In 1849, a branch line was completed from Slough to Windsor & Eton Central , opposite Windsor Castle , for Queen Victoria 's convenience. Slough has 96 listed buildings . There are 1918 saw
1960-665: The mid-19th century, the only major employer apart from the brickfields was James Elliman , who started as a draper in Chandos Street. In 1847, he changed business and manufactured his Elliman's Embrocation and Royal Embrocation horse liniment at factories in Wellington Street and Chandos Street. Elliman became a major benefactor to the town, and is remembered today in the names of local roads and schools. In September 1851, William Thomas Buckland , an auctioneer and surveyor from nearby Wraysbury , began livestock sales in
2016-854: The morning and evening rush hours. Road transport in Slough includes: Slough is served by Great Western Railway stations at Burnham , Slough and Langley . Slough station is a junction between the Great Western Main Line and the Slough to Windsor & Eton Line to allow passengers to connect for Windsor & Eton Central . Reading : Great Western Railway operate fast services to Reading every half an hour which take about 15 minutes, as well as slow services every fifteen minutes which take 30 minutes. London Paddington : Great Western Railway operate express services to London every half an hour which take 14 minutes, as well as slow services every fifteen minutes taking 26 minutes. Slough has services on
2072-641: The neighbouring parishes of Burnham , a small area of Taplow near Cippenham , Farnham Royal and Stoke Poges which remain in the county of Buckinghamshire and Datchet which is in Berkshire. Eton is narrowly buffered by the Jubilee River and by green space (mainly the college playing fields) from part of Slough, and the two areas formerly formed the Eton birth, marriages and deaths registration district. The nearest Met Office weather observing station to Slough
2128-453: The operator of the original Slough Trading Estate , created and operated many more estates in the UK and abroad. The Slough Trading Estate meant that the town was largely insulated from many of the effects of recession . For many years, Slough's economy was mainly manufacturing-based. The company Zwicky Limited, a manufacturer of liquid pumps, filters, compression valves and aircraft refuelling units, runway sweepers were based in Slough. In
2184-503: The parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey (including the old village of Upton) and a smaller part of the neighbouring parish of Stoke Poges . The town was then governed by an elected local board. Such local government districts were converted into urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894 . In 1900 the Slough urban district was enlarged to absorb most of the residual parts of the old Upton-cum-Chalvey parish that had been outside
2240-417: The question. Further information can be found on the page Demographics of Slough . There is one main tier of local government covering Slough, at unitary authority level: Slough Borough Council , which is based at Observatory House in the town centre. Most of the urban area is unparished , although some of the suburbs are included in civil parishes , including Britwell and Wexham Court . Slough
2296-456: The railway station. It was opened in May 2011. Redevelopment on this scale has been strongly criticised by conservation groups. The Twentieth Century Society has stated that [A] tragically high quantity of good buildings have been demolished in Slough in recent years, including grand Art-Deco-styled factories by the likes of Wallis Gilbert and high-quality post-war offices. More are to come down as
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2352-475: The rest of the 20th century and remained the local seat of government after the enlarged Slough District Council was formed in 1974. Councillor Lydia Simmons became the UK's first black mayor at the town hall in May 1984. However, in 2008, the Slough Borough Council , which had become the unitary authority for the area in 1997, decided to close the town hall and to temporarily relocate its staff to
2408-630: The road to Windsor (now the A332) met the Great West Road. The Domesday Survey of 1086 refers to Upton, and a wood for 200 pigs, worth £15. During the 13th century, King Henry III had a palace at Cippenham. Parts of Upton Court were built in 1325, while St Mary the Virgin Church in Langley was probably built in the late 11th or early 12th century, though it has been rebuilt and enlarged several times. From
2464-626: The road to service the passing trade. Until the town developed as an industrial area, nurseries were prominent in the local economy; the Cox's Orange Pippin apple was first raised in Colnbrook (not then within Slough) around 1825, and the dianthus "Mrs Sinkins Pink" was first raised at some point between 1868 and 1883 by John Sinkins, the master of the Eton Union Workhouse , which lay in Slough. In
2520-539: The site of the Slough experiment , a large-scale road safety trial. The old Slough library was opened on 28 November 1974. It was officially called the Robert Taylor Library, named after Alderman Taylor in recognition of his contribution to the library service. The library was officially opened by the Mayor, Councillor DR Peters, on 15 May 1975. It was demolished in May 2017 as part of the programme of redevelopment in
2576-480: The surrounding residential areas. It was claimed that the plan would create more than 4,100 new jobs and contribute around £100m a year to Slough's economy. If both plans went ahead, nearly £1 billion would be spent on redeveloping Slough over the next 20 years. In 2009, Herschel Park (known as Upton Park until 1949), named for astronomer William Herschel , was relandscaped in a multimillion-pound effort to bring it back to its former Victorian era glory. The park
2632-440: The town centre. In the 21st century, Slough has seen major redevelopment of the town centre. Old buildings are being replaced with new offices and shopping complexes. Tesco has replaced an existing superstore with a larger Tesco Extra . The Heart of Slough Project is plan for the large-scale redevelopment of the town centre as a focus and cultural quarter for the creative media, information and communications industries created
2688-615: The town found a new home at the Centre in Farnham Road, Slough. In parallel to the town centre redevelopment plan, Segro (owner of the Slough Trading Estate) planned to spend £600 million over the following 20 years on the estate. This was intended to create environmentally sustainable buildings, open green spaces, two hotels, a conference centre, cafés, restaurants and better transport facilities to improve links to Slough town centre and
2744-473: The town tries to erase its past and reinvent itself from scratch. Despite famously heckling Slough, John Betjeman 's praise for the town hall's architecture as 'a striving for unity out of chaos' in 1948 has never been so relevant as today. C20 believes that the redevelopment of the town hall would be an act of vandalism to the civic centre and is supporting the Campaign to Save Slough's Heritage in their request for
2800-509: The urban district, including Chalvey . The urban district was further enlarged in 1930, when it was significantly expanded to take in most of the neighbouring parish of Langley (including the village), the Salt Hill area from the parish of Farnham Royal , and the Cippenham area from the parish of Burnham . In 1938 the urban district was incorporated to become a municipal borough . In 1974,
2856-455: Was abolished and the borough council took on the former county council's functions in the borough. Since 2015, Slough has had a Youth Parliament to represent the views of younger people. Slough is twinned with: Before the 19th century, the main businesses of Slough were brickfields and agriculture. The bricks for the building of Eton College were made in Slough. Later, as the Great West Road traffic increased, inns and pubs sprang up along
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#17328836331632912-475: Was built, run and used by the astronomer William Herschel , and his sister Caroline . The famous ' 40-foot telescope ' - at that time the largest in the world - was housed there in the late 18th century and early 19th century. The main house was on Windsor Road. There was also a small cottage on the land. Herschel moved there on 3 April 1786. John Herschel was born in the house, and William died there on 25 August 1822. John Herschel and his family moved out of
2968-504: Was featured in an episode of the documentary programme Who Do You Think You Are? focusing on the TV presenter Davina McCall . In 2010, £2 million was set aside to improve disabled access to Slough railway station in preparation for an expected increase in use during the 2012 London Olympics. Preparations were under way for the regeneration of the Britwell suburb of Slough, involving tearing down
3024-457: Was historically a hamlet in the parish of Upton , also known as Upton-cum-Chalvey, in Buckinghamshire . Until 1863 it was administered by the parish vestry and manorial courts , in the same way as most rural areas. As Slough began developing into a town, the need for more urban forms of local government grew. In 1863 a local government district was established for Slough, covering part of
3080-586: Was passed allowing the company (renamed Slough Estates Ltd ) to establish an industrial estate . Spectacular growth and employment ensued, with Slough attracting workers from many parts of the UK and abroad. Slough Town Hall , which was designed by Charles Holloway James and Stephen Rowland Pierce , was completed in 1937. During the Second World War , Slough experienced a series of air raids , mostly in October 1940 (the largest number of people, five, dying as
3136-564: Was the subject of a design competition assessed by Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel and won by Charles Holloway James and Stephen Rowland Pierce . The new building was designed in the Neo-Georgian style , built in red brick with stone dressings and completed in 1937. The building was officially opened on 31 March 1937 by Sarah Trevener, wife of the chairman of the urban district council, Arthur George Trevener. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with fifteen bays facing onto Bath Road;
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