Editing Welling (section)

=== 21st century ===
A major upgrade of paving and street lighting was completed in the autumn of 2005. The retention or removal of a section of westbound bus lane from Welling High Street became one of the few specific local issues on which the main political parties disagreed in the approach to the local [[Bexley London Borough Council|Bexley Council]] elections held on 4 May 2006. The incoming Conservative administration immediately revoked the bus lane.

The MECCA bingo hall in [[Upper Wickham Lane]] has ceased trading, apparently one of nine in England unsuited to operate after the national ban on smoking in public places.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f214a940-bc98-11db-9cbc-0000779e2340.html#axzz1JjRobGBY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/652Go |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Financial Times "Rank to close nine Mecca clubs"|last=Warwick|first=Lucy|date=15 February 2007|publisher=Ft.com|access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> This large building, which originally was an Odeon cinema is operating now as Freedom Centre International, a Pentecostal Church.