Bilston Town Hall is a municipal facility in Church Street,

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

, West Midlands, United Kingdom. It is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace an earlier timber-framed town hall in Lichfield Street. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Edward Pugh, treasurer of the

local board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

, on 2 April 1872. The new building, which was designed by architects Bidlake and Lovatt of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

in the Classical style and built by a Mr Nelson from

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

at a cost of £6,000, was officially opened on 14 June 1873. An extension incorporating a larger free library and a new reading room in the same architectural style as the original building was added in 1880. The ball room on the first floor was, in 1910, leased to Joseph Woods as a cinema: after he built Wood's Palace, on the other side of the road, the ballroom reverted to community use. The town hall became the meeting place of Bilston Urban District Council in 1894 and of the Bilston Municipal Borough Council in 1933. The

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been se ...

visited Bilston Town Hall in 1946 shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The town hall ceased to be the local seat of government when Bilston was incorporated into the new county Borough of

in 1966. However, the town hall continued to be used by the housing department of Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council for another 30 years until it closed in 1996. In April 2005, work started on a refurbishment programme for the building involving restoration of the grand ballroom for use by the Gazebo Theatre Company, new offices for Wolverhampton Homes, repairs to the roof, stonework, windows and clock and a new glass entrance. The venue also took possession of a newly restored

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

, designed and built by

John Compton Sir John George Melvin Compton, (29 April 1925 – 7 September 2007) was a Saint Lucian politician who became the first Prime Minister upon independence in February 1979. Having led Saint Lucia under British rule from 1964 to 1979, Compton s ...

, which had been removed from the Lyric Cinema in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

when it changed ownership in the late 1960s and had instead been installed at Weavers Road School in Wellingborough. Although it had been used for concerts at the school in the 1980s, it had subsequently languished in the school for many years until it was acquired for Bilston Town Hall in 2007. Following the completion of the works, which cost £2.5 million, the town hall was officially reopened by Councillor Christine Mills, the Mayor of Wolverhampton, on 19 September 2008. In 2013 the town hall also became the central hub of "Talent Match Black Country", an organisation which provides support to young unemployed people in the local area.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Wolverhampton Government buildings completed in 1873 City and town halls in the West Midlands (county) Grade II listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)