Welcome To Hookwood.  Which will be demolished if

the Gatwick Airport Expansion is allowed.

The nearest village to Gatwick Airport

Hookwood on the Gatwick Airport  periphery, lies in the Surrey Weald adjacent to the county of West Sussex, about 1 Km north of the major international  Gatwick Airport.

Hookwood is the actual perimeter village of Gatwick Airport.

This village will be completely destroyed if Gatwick is allowed to expand.

More than 1250 people will be displaced from the village they know and love.

Map: Hookwood

Map courtesy "O.S."

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To page 3 For Photos of Hookwood

The village  of Hookwood is situated about 3 Km west of Horley, 10 Km south of Reigate and 4 Km east of Charlwood which are all in the county of Surrey.  Crawley which is in West Sussex lies about 6 km to the south of the village.  The administrative district is Mole Valley, local affairs are dealt with by the Charlwood and Hookwood Parish council.  Within the village there are several first class hotels , a number of guest houses and a large Tesco superstore, also a number of listed houses which will be demolished along with some 420 conventional dwelling places, we only have a single pub,  called the Black Horse. 

Our sister village, Lowfield Heath which is on the south side of Gatwick airport  runway has been completely taken over by the Gatwick complex so that only a few original buildings such as the church and the Royal British Legion club remain.  Hookwood will suffer the same fate if the expansion takes place.  Locally, the main employment is to be found at the airport , consequently quite a number of retired airport/airline retired staff live in the local area.  The result of the September 11th catastrophe was felt in the area with a considerable loss of airport related jobs.  We hope that there will be an upturn in the fortunes of those suffering job losses at the present time when Gatwick returns to its former operating levels.  This level is adequate for the existing traffic and runway, the local population strongly resist any increase in traffic levels above those envisaged for the present runway and its projected passenger figures.

  Although only 1000 yards from the Gatwick airport north terminal, Hookwood provides a number of pleasant nature walks on footpaths along the banks of the river Mole and across the surrounding fields.  The high earth bund on the periphery of the airport has been planted with trees and bushes and the woods that border the river give a rural outlook to the riverside walks.   There is an abundance of wildlife, deer, rabbits, foxes and so on in the woods and replanted area on the banks of the river Mole, otters have been seen in the river recently.

The New Hookwood Village Hall:

The first public use of the new hall was on election day:7th of June 2001.

This would be demolished if expansion were to be allowed!

The Hall on polling day

Overall view of the Hookwood village hall

The local Play Group, which received an excellent Ofsted report, has now relocated to the new hall.  This friendly and happy group is always pleased to welcome new children to join them.

Various clubs  use the hall, these include the Bridge Club, Accordion Orchestra, Taekwondo Group, Clog-dancing Group and so on, it is also used for children's and family parties,wedding receptions etc. We hope the new hall will encourage new groups to start in the village for people of all ages.

Malcolm Campbell:

The famous racing enthusiast Malcolm Campbell , who built the Bluebird racing car, lived in Hookwood, he had a garage at "Povey Crossroads", a close of houses "Malcolm Gardens" is named after him ( see page 3).

Wine-Tasting:

There are regular wine tasting evenings in the village, Wolfgang Kohl comes from Brauneberg in the Mosel valley twice a year with a good selection of wines from his own vineyards. A number of villagers have visited his vineyards and his Weingut Hotel, reasonable rates and a lovely location.

Towns and villages local to Hookwood and Gatwick

Crawley  Horley     Reigate    Charlwood  Redhill   Lowfield Heath   Gatwick                   Click name for more details

 The village has an active playgroup which meets in the new village hall.

The Hookwood playgroup in session.   

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Horley is the nearest town of note to Hookwood, it has a good department store, Collingwood Batchelor, also quite a number of shops, pubs, guest houses, restaurants together with the usual array of estate agents banks and building societies.  A number of Airline  offices and businesses  related to Gatwick Airport are also located in Horley.  Most of the local schools have a good reputation , we have a good library and the local medical  and dental practices are excellent.  The local church is St. Bartholomew and there is a good gym and swimming pool in the Court Lodge area. There are good local bus services and excellent rail services to London and the South coast. 

Reigate lies some 10 km north of Hookwood, this town offers good shopping facilities and has  a good grammar school.  The old town hall built in 1728 is worth a visit as are the old castle ruins which has a series of caves underneath.  The old castle grounds are open to the public but the caves may only be visited in groups by appointment or on specific opening days , these are organised by the Wealden Cave and Mining Society, their web site is:

http://www.access@wcms.org.uk.

A good selection of shops and eating places can be found near the High Street, off road parking is available nearby .Reigate.  

The suburbs of Woodhatch and Dovers Green lie to the south of Reigate, as a matter of interest, Dovers Green is the home of the local popular artist who signs herself "Gwen".

 Reigate is twinned with Brunoy  France                                      

and ESCHWEILER Germany.                      

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The Horley Department Store

Collingwood-Batchelor (Filmpic)