Brackley’s town hall opens its doors for heritage initiative

The 18th Century Wren-inspired Georgian building is set to undergo a restoration after the town council had an approval from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and are throwing open their doors and inviting the public to take a look around.

Councillor Peter Rawlinson, project champion, said: “The restoration of this fantastic building is starting to gain real momentum now and is rapidly moving from feasability and design to delivery.

“We are extremely pleased to be opening the doors to the town hall once again as part of this year’s heritage open day festival and hope that the events and activities we are putting on will be popular with residents and visitors.”

Building on the success of the last two years of Heritage Open Days, the town council is theming this year’s event around the Georgian period to reflect the time when the town hall was built and orginally used.

Over the two days there will be opportunities to try your hand at games from the period, have a go at historic crafts, sampling historic recipes and trying on authentic costumes.

Information will also be provided on the history of the town hall, the restoration project and its future. The ever-popular tours of the attic will be running across both days. Both days run from 10am until 4pm.

The awarding of £2.1 million grant by the HLF to the town council will repair and upgrade the ‘vulnerable’ building as a rejuvenated community venue. The investment will also pay for repairs to the stonework and clock tower along with installation of new facilities including toilets, new kitchen and a lift.

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