Municipal building in Swindon, Wiltshire, England
The Old Town Hall, also known as The Locarno or Locarno Ballroom,[1] is a former municipal building of 1854 in the High Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II listed building.[2]
History
Until the construction of the town hall on the High Street, the town council had met in the Goddard Arms on the High Street.[3] This small pub had been owned by the Goddard family since 1621 and was a small cottage alehouse known as the Crown until 1820.[3] The Goddard Arms was used for public meetings in the early 19th century and was used in this way by Ambrose Goddard to report progress on the Wilts & Berks Canal.[3]
The town hall was designed by Sampson Sage and E Robertson in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone by a local builder, George Major,[4] and was completed in 1854.[2][5] The main frontage has five bays separated by full-height Tuscan order pilasters, with arched windows on the ground floor, casement windows on the first floor and a pediment and roof lantern above.[2]
The building was extended to the northeast with a tower, as well as accommodation for a corn exchange at ground floor level, to the designs of Wilson and Willcox of Bath in 1866.[2] A wine store was built on an adjoining site and its upper hall was used as a magistrates' court from 1871 to 1891.[3]
After civic functions transferred to the new town hall in 1891, the building became a roller skating rink in 1910,[6] and a cinema known as the Rink in 1919. After the Second World War it was refurbished and re-opened as the Locarno Dance Hall.[6] Performers at the dance hall included the singer, Cilla Black, in April 1964,[7] followed by the rock bands, The Yardbirds in July 1964,[8] The Who in October 1965[9] and the Small Faces in November 1965.[10] The building subsequently served as a bingo hall but became vacant in the mid 1980s.[11]
The building was acquired by bar owner, Gael Mackenzie, in 1999.[12] Major fires occurred in the building in May 2003 and again in May 2004.[13] In November 2016, Swindon council entered into a development agreement with Swindon Corn Exchange Limited, a business managed by housebuilder, Steve Rosier, under which Rosier agreed to pursue a development on the site.[14] However, after no progress was made with the development and the building continued to decay, the Victorian Society added the structure to its list of most endangered buildings in September 2019.[15] The council also threatened to use a compulsory purchase order to re-acquire the property in January 2020.[16][17]
References
