Editing Stanmore (section)

===The war and afterwards===
[[File:RAF Stanmore Park aerial 1945.png|thumb|left|Aerial shot of [[RAF Stanmore Park]] (1945)]]
During [[World War II]], Stanmore played an important role. Stanmore had an outstation from the [[Bletchley Park]] codebreaking establishment, where some of the [[Bombe]]s used to decode German [[Enigma machine|Enigma]] messages were housed. Bentley Priory was taken over by the [[RAF]], and in 1940 the [[Battle of Britain]] was controlled from [[RAF Bentley Priory]]. RAF Bentley Priory closed in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stanmore – Hidden London|url=http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/stanmore/|website=hidden-london.com|access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref>

In the 1950s the Automobile Association built and opened a four-storey office building on The Broadway which eventually became the AA regional headquarters for London and the South East. A major employer in Stanmore, the centre once handled up to 3,000 calls a day. In 1986 the AA moved a few hundred yards to a new building on The Broadway. The abandoned building eventually became derelict and a target for vandalism, graffiti and the dumping of rubbish.<ref name="HQ">{{Citation
| title = End of line for HQ that answered drivers' pleas
| newspaper = Pinner Observer
| date   = 26 August 1993
| page   = 12
| url    = https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002510/19930826/074/0012
}}</ref> There were plans to build a shopping centre at the site, but they did not go ahead, leaving the building abandoned for several years with its windows broken<ref>{{Citation
| title = Marks says No to place in shopping mall
| newspaper = Pinner Observer
| date   = 13 August 1992
| page   = 3
| url    = https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002510/19920813/012/0003
}}</ref> before it was demolished in 1993.<ref name="HQ"/> The site lay empty for several years before [[Sainsbury's]] secured its development of a supermarket here, opening at the end of 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/6509803.supermarkets-will-go-ahead-residents-told/|title=Supermarkets will go ahead residents told|date=9 May 1998 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/58537.second-supermarket-a-surprise-to-stanmore/|title = Second Supermarket a Surprise to Stanmore| date=January 2000 }}</ref>

[[File:Bernays Memorial Hall, The Broadway, Stanmore - geograph.org.uk - 4170106.jpg|thumb|Bernays Institute, a parish hall erected by Rev. Leopold Bernays]]
[[Bernays Institute|Bernays Memorial Institute]] survived demolition<ref>{{Citation
| title = Town centre plans save hall
| newspaper = Pinner Observer
| date   = 5 March 1992
| page   = 14
| url    = https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002510/19920305/102/0014
}}</ref> and was restored during a period of 18 years until 2009. However, the AA call operating centre closed in 1997 when it moved its base to [[Basingstoke]], and in January 1999 it was announced that the breakdown centre would close with the loss of 140 jobs, ending the firm's long association with Stanmore.<ref>{{Citation
| title = 140 jobs go as AA moves out
| newspaper = Pinner Observer
| date   = 21 January 1999
| page   = 1
| url    = https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002510/19990121/006/0001
}}</ref> After being sold by the AA the building was used by [[Carpetright]] and as offices.