The Malayan Team won the 1st Thomas Cup Tournament held in 1948/9 in United Kingdom . With it, Malaya also won the right to host the next Thomas Cup Tournament, scheduled for 1952. As there was no suitable indoor hall in Malaya then, the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) decided to build one in Singapore.

In 1951, the SBA's request for a piece of land at Guillemard Road to build the badminton stadium was granted with a 99-year lease (effective from 1 Jul 1951). The Singapore Badminton Hall (SBH) was completed in May 1952 but it was not ready for the 2nd Thomas Cup Tournament which was to be held from 27 to 28 May, that year. The Tournament proceeded at the Happy World Stadium (presently known as the Geylang Indoor Stadium) where the Malayan Team, which included our badminton heroes, the late Wong Peng Soon, Ong Poh Lim and the late Ismail Marjan, successfully defended their title.

The SBH was eventually opened by the then Governor of Singapore, Sir John Nicoll on 7 Jun 1952.

In 1955, the Thomas Cup Tournament (3rd) was held, for the first time, at the Singapore Badminton Hall. The Malayan Team won its 3rd consecutive title.

The 4th Thomas Cup Tournament was held at the SBH in June 1958 but the Malayan Team had to concede their crown to the Indonesians.

Besides badminton, the SBH was also the venue of a political landmark event, thirty years ago (1 Sep 1962). It was the vote-counting station for the referendum to ascertain the people's views on the late Tunku Abdul Rahman's suggestion to form " Malaysia " with the merger of Singapore, Brunei, Sarawak, Sabah and the Federation of the Malay States. About 71 percent of the electorate voted for the proposal to merge.

In recognition of these two significant historical events that had occurred at the SBH, it was marked as a historical site by the National Heritage Board and the SSC on 1 Sep 1999. The Minister for Community Development, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, officiated at the ceremony.

Besides the two landmark events, the SBH was also the venue for other political rallies and cultural and musical shows:

In June 1959, a huge crowd of nearly 7,000 workers from 63 trade unions gathered to celebrate the advent of the new PAP government after the general election, that year.

On the night of 7 Dec 1959, the Hall was filled to capacity at the Radio Singapore's all-star variety show, Puspawarna Singapura, hosted by popular Malay star, P Ramlee.

In Feb 1965, the British rock group, the Rolling Stones had a one-night performance at the Hall. The crowds went so wild that a wall erected for the concert collapsed.

SSC took over the management of SBH on a 30-year lease from the Lands Office from 1 Feb 1978. The hall was renovated and served as the venue for badminton in the 12th and 17th SEA Games, hosted by Singapore in 1983 and 1993, respectively.