The Friends of Victoria Hall (FOVH) lodged an appeal at the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) against a scheme made by the Charity Commission allowing the sale of the Victoria Hall to a private developer. However, the ability for local inhabitants to challenge disposals of community assets is soon to be curtailed as a result of upcoming changes being brought in under the Charities Act 2022.

The origins of FOVH’s call to action lie in a declaration of trust made in 1893 over the Victoria Hall. The hall, which was built in the 1880s entirely out of funds raised by the public to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, is held on charitable trusts for the purpose of meetings, entertainments and other activities, with the profits to be applied to charities in the London Borough of Ealing. It sits within the Grade II listed Ealing Town Hall complex.