Modern Times
Thorpe Park adjacent to the town was built on local post war gravel pits 
and the dome was opened by Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1979.
Highlight of the 1970’s in the town was the restarting of the Black Cherry Fair in 1976 by The Chertsey Chamber of Commerce. The parade came a year or two later, and since then The Black Cherry Fair on Abbey Fields in Windsor Street has
remained the great day of the year held every second Saturday in July. Moneys raised from the Fair were donated to the Christmas lights in the town.
Four groups of the town’s buildings were rebuilt to the original look, and Heriot Road was built retracing an old road and it was inserted into the back of London Street 
thus highlighting the facade of the 1851 Italianiate style Old Town Hall. This landmark building is now the 163 Wine Bar and sports tables underneath the arches. In 1981 Chertsey Hall was opened the other end of Heriot Road and has proved to be the most popular facility. 
Ray Lowther, dubbed ‘Mr Chertsey’, a local man and long time serving local and County Councillor, was given the Freedom of the Borough of Runnymede.
In 1982 the iron foundry in Gogmore Lane closed and demolished the buildings had once been Herring’s establishment, a name seen on drain covers and lampposts thoughout the town. It was unusual in the fact that shoppers in Guildford St could see, hear, and smell the furnace on a daily basis.
Of late there have been big influences on the outskirts of the town of Chertsey, the Green Belt policy, gravel raising, Thorpe Park, the building across the Meads of the M3 Motorway. However Chertsey turned a page in its recent history when the London Orbital Motorway, the M25,
eventually went orbital in 1986, and St. Peters Way connected the town to Juction11. Most of the large new office developments in the town and the raising of house prices starts from then. All these events have affected Chertsey in the late 20th Century in one way or another. This includes the ‘Revitalisation’ scheme now finished at the station end of Chertsey at the end of the 20th Century.
There was a request by the Chertsey Society for an archaeological dig on the Charles Street block of this scheme. 
Two highly unusual turned wooden bowls of the medieval period were found along with other archaeological evidence of the same period close to cross roads of Eastworth Rd and Guildford St. These items have not been seen since their excavation. There was flooding again on a major scale in the first few days of 2003 with most of the damage being done by the River Bourne.
The first member of the Royal Family to make an official visit to the town proper in recent and past history was the Duke of Gloucester who came to open the new extension to Chertsey Museum on 24th September 2003.
With the advent of the popular use of the motor car, big superstores elsewhere in the district, mail order and online shopping, and the changes in the patterns of shopping behaviour, and also the loss of a great deal of industry that there was in the immediate district, has meant that Chertsey like other towns of its size, has changed the balance of its modus operandi.
Victor Spink. February 2007.