Adrodd fel Amhriodol
Testun Gwreiddiol (Anodiad: EPW061272 / 510327)
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This building is the Victoria Hall, a social club which at the time of this photograph was owned and run by Jimmy Upton. He called it the "Victoria" because he had won the Victoria Cross for gallantry while fighting as a corporal in the Sherwood Foresters regiment in France in 1915.
The hall was originally built in 1930 by local entrepreneur, Henry Higinbottom, as the club house for the Kingsbury Midget Golf Club (the remains of the miniature golf course can be seen in the photograph on the land at either side of the hall), where members could play indoor putting during the winter months, hold dances, play billiards or drink in the bar.
During the Second World War the hall was used for a time by local coachbuilding company Vanden Plas, as extra workshop space for making wings for Mosquito aircraft, and at the end of 1945 the land around the hall was requisitioned by Wembley Council for building nine pre-fab homes.
By the 1950's the hall was known as the Ritz Ballroom, a very popular dance hall with a live band playing at least four nights a week. The attached photograph, taken in 1963 by Wembley History Society member Arthur Murgatroyd and now part of the Society's collection at Brent Archives, shows the building just before it was demolished to make way for a block of Council flats (Westcroft Court). '