Plans to turn King's Lynn's St George Guildhall into 'global attraction'
St George’s Guildhall is already set for a £4.8m refurb - but now there are plans for it to be turned into a major Norfolk tourist attraction
Last updated 12th Apr 2022
Plans to transform Britain’s oldest working theatre into an internationally-renowned cultural destination have been given the stamp of approval by senior councillors in west Norfolk.
St George’s Guildhall, in the centre of King’s Lynn, is set to be refurbished as part of a regeneration project using £4.8m from the government’s Town Deals scheme, a ‘levelling-up’ initiative to target investment for deprived areas.
Some five and a half hours of private debate about the building’s future had been held across two joint meetings of the council’s corporate performance and regeneration and development panels on March 30 and April 6.
Their conclusions were presented and discussed publicly at a meeting of the council’s Conservative cabinet on Monday (April 11).
The recommendations included the creation of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to establish and run the planned ‘creative hub’ at the Guildhall.
Conservative councillor Elizabeth Nockolds said many attempts to breathe new life into the building had been made over the years but all had failed due to a lack of finance rather than enthusiasm.
She said the Town Deal funding meant the council could at last take the project forwards, but she warned that the refurbished Guildhall should continue to be seen in the context of Lynn’s other historic buildings.
“It must be marketed with our other heritage assets within the town, the museums, Stories of Lynn, our links with the Hanseatic League,” said Ms Nockolds.
“Our whole town has a good story to tell for visitors to spend the day with us.”
Cabinet member Brian Long said the authority should strive to make the Guildhall – and by extension, Lynn – “something that ought to be on the visitor map for anyone visiting the UK with any interest in Shakespeare, theatre and theatrical history”.
The project includes refurbishing the theatre and developing a creative hub in the former White Barn within the Guildhall complex.
There will also be a new restaurant in the Shakespeare Barn and a refurbished Fermoy Gallery, while the building’s undercroft will be turned into a performance space.
The council hopes to match-fund some of the project using National Lottery grants, and Labour group leader Charles Joyce raised concern about what would happen if that money was not awarded.
The authority’s leader Stuart Dark said councillors could meet again if the council did not receive lottery funds.
The cabinet unanimously approved the recommendations.