Brentford, London’s canal side county town
Saturday 27 September, 1.30pm

An afternoon walk in Brentford, led by Robert Drake, looking at the transformation of a canal port and industrial ‘county’ town (for Middlesex) to the one of the earliest and influential examples of waterside regeneration of the 1970s, the Brentford Dock Development for the GLC with its now matured landscaping by Peter Barefoot. The event will be much more eclectic than that and will cover early 20th century terracotta pubs by Nowell Parr, court and health buildings of the inter-war period, then out along the Grand Union Canal towpath to the best surviving group of 1930s ‘fancy’ factories mainly by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners on the Great West Road. We hope to see the transformation into flats of Wallis House, an early skyscraper founded as Simmonds Aero-accessories, latterly Beechams which featured in the last C20 magazine. This event will involve a lot of walking.

Meet: 1.30pm Brentford Station (trains from Waterloo) with end point at Syon Lane, the next station along, but will be confirmed in joining letter.
Cost: Members only, £14

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