Summary
Beeston Town Hall is a municipal building in Foster Avenue in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, England. The building was formerly the offices of Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council and is now used by the Redeemer Church.
| Beeston Town Hall | |
|---|---|
 Beeston Town Hall | |
| Location | Foster Avenue, Beeston |
| Coordinates | 52°55′38″N 1°13′07″W / 52.9271°N 1.2186°W |
| Built | 1938 |
| Architect | Evans, Clark and Woollatt |
| Architectural style(s) | Neo-Georgian style |
  Shown in Nottinghamshire | |
History edit
Following significant population growth, largely associated with the lace and hosiery industries, the area became an urban district in 1894.[1] The early meetings of the new council were held at the Board Schools until the council commissioned its own offices at a site on Church Street in 1897.[2] In the mid-1930s, the council decided that the old council offices were inadequate: the site they selected for the new town hall was open land on the west side of Foster Avenue.[3] The old council officers were demolished during a wave of the redevelopment in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[4]
The new town hall was designed by Evans, Clark and Woollatt in the Neo-Georgian style, built by Hofton and Son in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £18,500 and was officially opened on 24 March 1938.[5] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Foster Avenue; the central bay featured a double-panelled doorway flanked by brick pilasters and brackets supporting a stone balcony with an ogive-shaped window on the first floor. The middle bays in the outer sections featured sash windows on the ground floor and terracotta carvings of beehives, a play on the name of the town, on the first floor, while the other bays in the outer sections were fenestrated by sash windows. At roof level, there was a frieze and a cornice, broken by a central pediment. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber.[6]
The town hall continued to serve as the meeting place of Beeston Urban District Council until 1935, of the enlarged Beeston and Stapleford Urban District from 1935 to 1974[7] and of the further enlarged Broxtowe Borough Council from 1974.[8] In 1980, the town hall was the venue for the public inquiry into the proposed demolition of the Bennerley Viaduct which was ultimately saved.[9]
The council established new council offices on the opposite side of Foster Avenue and moved its headquarters there in the early 1990s.[10] In 2005, the first annual Beeston Carnival took place: the focal point of the event was the parade, led by Beeston Pipe Band, from the town hall to Broadgate Park.[11][12] The council decided that the town hall was surplus to requirements in 2018 and, despite opposition from local community groups, sold the building to the Redeemer Church for £425,000 in January 2020.[13][14]
References edit
- ^ "Beeston UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "The High Road in Beeston - The Square". Exploring Beeston's History. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1900. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ Earp, Frank E.; Earp, Joseph (2017). Secret Beeston. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445664897.
- ^ "Beeston's New Town Hall". Beeston Gazette and Echo. England. 25 March 1838. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ^ "Safer NeighbourhoodCommittee Meeting - The Beeston cluster - West/ Town Centre/ Rylands/ Central and North". Nottinghamshire Police. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "No. 46019". The London Gazette. 29 June 1973. p. 7679.
- ^ "No. 47115". The London Gazette. 7 January 1977. p. 231.
- ^ "Sir Neil Cossons OBE accepts invitation to be Friends of Bennerley Viaduct Patron". Friends of Bennerley Viaduct. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "No. 53387". The London Gazette. 30 July 1993. p. 12809.
- ^ "Beeston all set for this year's carnival". Nottingham Local News. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "Carnival atmosphere in Town". Nottingham Post. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "New café and nursery revealed for Beeston Town Hall as part of plans by church". Nottingham Post. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "Town Hall Project". Redeemer Church. Retrieved 20 March 2022.