Gainsborough – Former Town Hall
Located in the heart of the Market Place is the former town hall, a Grade II listed building which was constructed in 1892. There was a former moot hall, or meeting hall, in the same place previous to this which had dated to around 1750 but wasn’t seen as substantial enough for the growing town. Gainsborough wasn’t much troubled by the air raids during the Second World War, but the one that there was caused damaged to the town hall and the replacement section of the structure wasn’t as ornate.
George Lansbury, the then Leader of the Labour Party, came to visit the building in December 1933. In a situation that was far from ideal, he managed to fall and break his thigh, leading him to have to return to Hampstead to recover. He had been quite vocal on his thoughts about the Tories in a speech he made before falling over, saying:
“The Tories are fascist, both in spirit and in action. They wish to reform the House of Lords in order to be able to frustrate the nation’s will when a mandate is given for socialism. Any such attempt is foredoomed.”
Don’t hold back….
Getting back on topic though. Perhaps sadly, the building was turned into an entertainment centre and has been left in a poor state of repair. An angry resident wrote to the local press in June 1981 complaining about the sale, stating:
“In connection with the proposed sale of the Town Hall. I challenge the people of Gainsborough to fight. Are you afraid of the councillors that represent you? Are you a Lincolnshire Yellow belly, too afraid to stand and be counted, but then the Town Hall is sold, have a lot to say?”
They evidently didn’t fight, but the letter writer was right to be concerned. The future might be better as part of the town’s regeneration plans includes restoring the structure and the scaffolding up suggests that this is happening. You can rent the building for £25,000 a year if you so desire, the details are at https://pph-commercial.co.uk/view-property/old-town-hall-lord-street-gainsborough-lincolnshire-dn21-2db-18048/. Hopefully the next couple of decades will be a little more auspicious for the building than the last couple of decades, it’s an odd way for a former public building to end up.
