Good news for Bentley Priory

What has recently happened to Northolt is very regrettable. I always used to have a pang of nostalgia when passing it..the BoB hangars, the guard room entrance, and the brick buildings could transport one back 70 years with a bit of imagination…in the last year or so, it has turned into something resembling an out-of-town industrial area/shopping complex.

My only consolation is that every day, I can look at the country mansion into which the Northolt Operations room was dispersed to during the Battle. In those days it was in extensive grounds and when I dug my garden over I found an old RAF cap badge. The house was also requisitioned by the Americans as part of D-Day planning. Interesting past….

That’s a shame, even our Cold-War history will be valued one day.

Apparently the bunker is what held up the deal. It costs a stupid amount each year just to run the pumps and air conditioning and no one wanted to pay for it. They are talking about sealing it up more than demolishing so I hope they record how it looks inside before they do the work.

That’s good news.
Must admit I shouldn’t tar all DE with same brush as they have done an amazing job in working with listed building status at Hullavington (Army now of course) and maintaining them in regard to history aswel as modern requirements.

I agree with you there. There does seem to be a “shiny buildings” mindset in DE. That said, at least the Northolt Officer’s Mess is (supposedly) being sympathetically treated.

Yes they were set for demolition when I last did a covering stint there about three years ago, didn’t realise that the hangar has now gone.
The one thing I don’t get is this, it seems fairly fasionable in the civil world to completely gut old buildings and thus retain their nice facades, character and history, but with new spacious, and environmantally acceptable, inards. the DE bodies seem very reluctant to even consider this.
A classic case is here at Saints where mass demolition is set to start of some very large (and unique) brick building which could be internally modified instead of replaced by alloy clad structures.

Just my two penneth and I know not the cheapest and most practical route.

The A type hangar has gone, to make way for a new parade ground and facilities for the QCS. I think a fair number of the old barrack blocks have gone as well – sad from a historical perspective but to anyone that actually lived in them in the last 20 or 30 years (such as yours truly) probably not that much of a regret.

Visuals and additional information on what Robert Adam Architects new buildings will look like here:

http://www.vsmestates.co.uk/schemes_bentley.htm

The operations bunker will be demolished and filled in. This is the 1980s structure that replaced the original.

That’s a shame, even our Cold-War history will be valued one day.
Good news on the securing the main house for preservation though.

I’m surprised about Northolt being opened up to tours, there is some great architecture there (some demolished recently though) but alot of that (W/Shop, off Mess, Barracks, A hgrs etc) is pre BoB and is of special interest in its own right.

It has been noted hereabouts, just not in its own thread before 🙂 I believe that Building 32 at Northolt, the old ops room (or the Regiment training room, depending on when you were at Northolt!), is being restored. I’m not sure how much it will be open as Northolt is a pretty secure place these days.