For more than a century, Wealdstone Police Station was one of the most familiar buildings on the High Street.
The Grade II-listed building has had several uses over the years, including as a police station, magistrates’ court and even, perhaps surprisingly to some, partly as a library.
Its closure was not straightforward either. Plans to shut the station were fought several times before public access eventually ended, with the building later sold by the Metropolitan Police.
A police station and court in the heart of Wealdstone
The building that still stands on Wealdstone High Street today was built in 1908-09.
It was designed by John Dixon Butler, who was responsible for a number of Metropolitan Police buildings across London.
But it was not originally just a police station. The building was designed to house both Wealdstone Police Station and a magistrates’ court, with separate entrances for the two.
Historic records also show that the building included areas for prisoners, police officers and members of the public, as well as a detention room and a cell.
Court hearings had been taking place in Wealdstone before the current building was constructed, with surviving archive records for the local magistrates’ court dating back to 1889.
The court use later came to an end and, during the 20th century, part of the building was used as a library. A photograph held by the London Picture Archive from 1976 is catalogued as showing the “Police station and library in Wealdstone High Street”.
The entire building would eventually return to police use.
Closure plans begin to emerge
Wealdstone Police Station was given Grade II-listed status in November 1998, recognising its historic and architectural importance.
Around the same time, however, its role as a traditional walk-in police station was beginning to change.
Parliamentary records show that its public opening hours were reduced in 1999.
Plans to close the station then emerged in 2003, leading to local opposition including protests and a petition.
The station survived that attempt, but records from the following year show that Metropolitan Police property officials were already considering selling the building to help fund work elsewhere in the police estate.
Another possible closure followed in 2008 and was again opposed locally.
By then, it was becoming clear that the future of the station was uncertain.
The public counter closes
The biggest change came in 2010. The Metropolitan Police Authority approved plans to move the station’s public front-counter service and, in March that year, it was transferred to Harrow Civic Centre.
From that point, residents could no longer simply walk into Wealdstone Police Station to report a crime or speak to officers. But the building itself had not completely closed.
Police teams and local policing operations continued to work from inside, including the Wealdstone Anti-Social Behaviour Partnership.
The threat of full closure returned again in 2011. Harrow Council debated a motion opposing plans to dispose of the station, with councillors raising concerns about the impact of losing a police presence in Wealdstone.
There was also acknowledgement that the ageing building was no longer considered suitable for modern policing.
The Metropolitan Police was reducing the size of its property estate across London, arguing that some older stations were expensive to maintain and no longer met modern requirements.
Services were increasingly being concentrated at larger police stations and other locations, including Harrow Police Station and Harrow Civic Centre.
Wealdstone Police Station is sold
The Metropolitan Police eventually sold Wealdstone Police Station on 30 May 2014.
It was bought by Meso Investment LLP for £950,000, with official disposal records listing residential development as the intended future use.
By then, the public had already been unable to access the station for around four years. After police use ended, the condition of the old station deteriorated. It was boarded up and eventually placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.
Records show that squatters illegally entered the building in 2016, while repairs were needed to its roof, guttering and drainage.
From police station to flats
Several attempts were made to find a new use for the building. A proposal in 2017 would have converted the station into four flats, with another five homes built at the rear.
Harrow Council refused the application and an appeal was dismissed in 2018.
A different scheme was later approved. The former police station has now been converted into six self-contained flats alongside commercial space.
Harrow Council records from 2025 describe a completed mixed-use scheme containing six flats, offices and a café.
The building was also marketed by Savills in 2025, when it was described as containing six flats and two commercial units.
More than 115 years after it was built, the old police station buidling therefore remains standing on the High Street. It has survived major changes to the area, several attempts to close it and years of uncertainty over its future.
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Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
Harrow Online reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month and has a social media audience of more than 200,000 followers.
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