Wembley timeline

2012

• Wembley Stadium will be the Venue for the men's and women's football finals.

2008

• September - Quintain first resident block W01 complete

2007

• 27 March - Stadium Safety Certificate issued by Brent Council.
• 24 March - First international friendly at new Wembley Stadium - England under 21 vs Italy 17 March Wembley Stadium opened its doors to the local community at the Wembley Stadium Community Day.

2006

• 21 February - FA confirmed the FA Cup Final would be held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 13 May 2006.

2005

• 17 October - Quintain submitted the detailed planning application (reference number 05/2949) for the first homes to be built on the Site of the former Bingo Hall (W01).
• October - Events ticket hall at Wembley Park Station opened.
• January - Refurbishment and reorientation works for Wembley Arena started.

2004

• December 2004 - Demolition of Palace of Arts started. Estate Access Corridor was completed on Christmas Eve.
• October  - Demolition started for the Bingo Hall and Phoenix Studios.
• 29 September - A section 106 legal agreement securing £21.6m worth of local benefits was signed for Quintain outline application for redeveloping 42 acres of land surrounding Wembley Stadium.
• 28 May - The Wembley Stadium Arch began to be lifted.

2003

• 31 October - Quintain submitted an application (reference number 03/3200) for the regeneration of the 17 hectares of land immediately surrounding the new Stadium.

2002

• November - Building on a long history of dialogue with partners and local people, Brent Council's Vision for Wembley, which was launched in November 2002, set an ambitious agenda by seeking to transform the desolate and underused area surrounding the Stadium, the High Road and industrial estates into a world-class destination.
• 30 September - Demolition of the old stadium began.
• 26 September - FA, Sport England and the Culture Secretary announced the final go-ahead.
• 23 August - A section 106 legal agreement securing £17.2m worth of local benefits and infrastructure improvements was signed for developing the new Stadium.
• 7 August - Wembley plc, the track-based gaming company sold its subsidiary company Wembley (London) Limited to Quintain Estates and Development plc for £48 million. The sale, which included the 44 acre freehold site adjacent to Wembley Stadium and all of the operations on the Wembley site namely; Wembley Arena, Wembley Conference and Exhibition Centre, office buildings and car parks.
• 31 May - The FA signed "heads of agreement" with Westdeutsche Landesbank for a £400m loan.
• 8 May - The Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, extended the deadline for FA to find a lender to permit the construction of the new stadium.
• 20 March - Brent Council's planning committee has voted to approve amended plans for the new Wembley National Stadium development (reference number 99/2400) January WNSL Board of Directors (13) resigned together. A smaller board was formed including several of the existing directors. Barclays pulled out as a contender to finance the project.

2001

• 19 December - The FA announced re-emerged Wembley as the expected venue for the National Stadium, although the Government warned there was much work still to be done.
• 8 May - The former Home Secretary, Jack Straw appointed businessman Lord Patrick Carter to review the project and report on the options left for the project.
• 1 May - FA asked the Government to bail out the project. Alternative sites in Birmingham and Coventry were offered.

2000

• 8 December - Sir Rodney Walker was appointed by FA as WNSL Chairman. FA declared that athletics could still play a part.
• 25 October - Demolition work was put back indefinitely as Chase Manhattan experienced extreme difficulty in raising the £410m required to complete the work.
• 7 October - England played their last international at the old Wembley Stadium.
• 11 September - Australian construction company Multiplex signed a contract to build the new stadium for a maximum price of £326.5m.
• 1 June - Planning permission for the new stadium was granted by Brent Council.

1999

• 22 December - The former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport , Chris Smith ordered Wembley to be developed as a football-only venue.
• 15 November - Lord Foster's design for the new stadium was unveiled - a giant "triumphant arch" was announced to be built.
• March - After negotiations with Wembley plc, Wembley Stadium was sold to the English National Stadium Trust for £103m by Wembley plc, with Sport England providing the cash through a £120m lottery grant.

1998

• July - A new project structure emerged with football as the dominant partner. It was agreed that, in order to secure the site in the face of private competitors such as Arsenal FC, the Lottery grant would be devoted principally to the purchase of the current Stadium and the associated business. The finance to build the new Stadium would be raised by a development company (WNSL) which would be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the FA. The ENST would continue to exist and would lease the Stadium site to WNSL. The ENST would be represented on the Board of WNSL and would have a share in WNSL to ensure that Lottery conditions and the wider public interest were respected. May Chelsea Football Club Chairman Ken Bates was chosen to be chairman of Wembley National Stadium Limited (WNSL). ENST decided that it was unable to make progress in securing a lease from Wembley plc. This was in part because a rival bidder for the site had emerged in Arsenal Football Club. At this point, the FA, acting on behalf of the football event holders, withdrew from the project as then structured. Sport England concluded that the model of an independent trust to develop and operate the Stadium had not proved practicable.

1997

• The project for the National Stadium at Wembley was intended to be taken forward by Wembley plc, the then owners of the Stadium, and by a body specially established for the purpose, the English National Stadium Trust. (ENST) (then renamed as Wembley National Stadium Trust)

1996

• December - Wembley was selected by English Sports Council as the preferred site for the National Stadium and a decision was made in principle to award a Lottery grant of £120 million
• October - The governing bodies of the three sports of athletics, football and rugby league announced that Wembley was their preferred bidder.
• June - Wembley hosted the semi-finals and final for Euro 96.

1995

• October - Manchester and Wembley were shortlisted and subsequently submitted detailed bids.
• July - Bids had been received from Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester, Sheffield and Wembley.
• April - English Sports Council (now known as Sport England) launched a competition for the location that would host a new English National Stadium after facing with the prospect of a number of applications for Lottery funding for major new stadia. The Football Association (FA), the Football League, the FA Premier League, the Rugby Football League and the British Athletic Federation (took over by UK Athletics) were invited to participate in the development of the project.

1978

• Empire Pool was renamed as Wembley Arena.

1977

• The Conference Centre was opened.

1966

• Wembley hosted the 1966 World Cup Final and England won.

1948

• The Stadium was the venue for track and field athletics during the 1948 Olympics while the Empire Pool hosted swimming and boxing. Olympic Way was built (then pedestrianised in 1993).

1934

• Empire Pool was opened on 25th July 1934 and hosted the second Empire Games (re-titled the Commonwealth Game in 1978) in August 1934.

1933

• After the Exhibition, Arthur Elvin saved the Stadium by buying it and forming the Wembley Stadium and Greyhound Racecourse Company. In the 1930's Mr Elvin decided to stage ice-hockey matches at Wembley. For this, he commissioned the Empire Pool, a large covered swimming pool that could be used as an ice rink. 

1923 - 1924

• Wembley Stadium was built as the centrepiece of the 1924 British Empire Exhibition which was opened on 23rd April 1924. The Empire Stadium was completed in time for the 1923 FA Cup Final on 28th April 2003 (Bolton v West Ham), it had staged many celebrated football and rugby matches, greyhound races and concerts including the Live Aid concert 13th July 1985.

1906

• The Great Central opened a line between Neasden and Northolt Junction [South Ruislip] and opened a station at Wembley Hill [Wembley Stadium].

1894

• Wembley Park Station was officially opened on 12 May 1894.

1842

• The London & Birmingham (later London & North Western) Railway built a line through Wembley. A halt was opened in 1842, initially called Sudbury (for Wembley). It is now Wembley Central Station.

Reference

•  "70 Wembley Arena", Wembley (London) Ltd 2003
• "Fourth Report on the Wembley National Stadium", Culture, Media and Sports Select Committee 2000
• "Places in Brent - Wembley and Tokyngton", Grange Museum of Community History and Brent Archive 2001