AN appeal was launched this week to raise funds for the long-running campaign to save the Victoria Hall, central Ealing’s largest community space.

It was built next to Ealing Town Hall with money raised through a Victorian crowdfunding campaign. It’s owned by a charitable trust, set up in 1893 to provide a venue for the community and ‘Meetings, Entertainments, Balls, Bazaars, and other Gatherings whether Social or Political’.

Ealing Council has applied to the Charity Commission to be allowed to take control of the trust’s assets, so the building it can be sold, with the rest of the town hall, to a hotel developer.

Roger Green, chair of the Friends of Victoria Hall, said: “The Victoria Hall has served us for 126 years, hosting countless meetings, entertainments, protests, celebrations, examinations, exhibitions and more.

“Under this deal its facilities will be as good as lost to the people for whom they were created in 1893. Not only that, but part of the Grade II-listed building would be destroyed to accommodate the hotel.”

The Charity Commission has proposed an amendment to the Victoria Hall Trust, which would allow the council to take ownership.

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This caused a storm of protest during the Commission’s consultation over its proposal, which closed on January 7.

Mr Green said: “There was such a big response the Commission is not able to say how long its deliberations will take.  We think it will be two or three months before we hear anything.

“Our expert legal advisers found so many faults in the details of the proposal that our initial legal costs are likely to be well above the original estimate.

“Consequently, we’re announcing the launch of a public appeal to cover those costs.

“The hall was built with Victorian ‘crowdfunding’. We’re using its 21st Century equivalent to save it.”

You can make a contribution online at https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-victoria-hall