The Walton Centre for the Community in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, is cash-only for on-site payments. Elmbridge Borough Council’s Walton Centre (Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames KT12 2PB) states: ‘We accept cash for all payments in our centres… Unfortunately, we cannot accept card payments.’ Visitors should therefore bring coins and notes to pay for membership, lunches and refreshments.
To be precise, an annual membership for Elmbridge residents costs £21.50, and the council lists a three-course hot lunch for centre members at £6.10. The cash-only rule applies to payments for refreshments, lunches, activities and special events run at the centre, including classes such as line dancing, bridge and fitness sessions.
Elmbridge Borough Council continues to operate the Walton Centre while it progresses its ‘Connected Communities’ programme, which is designed to move community services from council-run day centres to locally led community hubs. The council has received bids and is working through due diligence; its public material and local reporting (BBC) note that Elmbridge plans to hand over centres to community partners as part of this overhaul.
Councillor Mike Rollings, Leader of Elmbridge Borough Council, and other council statements describe a shift away from a buildings-based model toward community-run hubs. Council webpages make clear card payments are not accepted at the centres; council documents and recent coverage indicate limited further capital investment in these buildings while the transition is under way, but they do not contain a direct council statement that officials are ‘reluctant’ to buy card machines — that framing is an interpretation of the evidence and should be presented as such.
Local people who rely on the centre for social contact and hot meals should be aware that payments are cash-only and plan accordingly. Elmbridge’s Connected Communities pages say the first community hubs are expected to open from spring 2026; the wider local government reorganisation that will create new unitary authorities in Surrey is due to take effect on 1 April 2027, which is a related but separate timetable for broader service changes.
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