A quick history lesson, pay attention I'll be asking questions at the end!
We can thank Prison officials at the nearby Wakefield Jail for the magnificent Grade II listed building we have today.
As a result of the escalating cost of groceries and supplies for the Jail, it was decided at a meeting in 1867 to form the Wakefield Industrial Co-Operative. With the promise of lower prices for food, hardware and provisions the Co-op had sold enough shares to purchase a small building in Bank Street and Westgate for the sum of £1,520. By 1876 the society was in such a secure financial position that it was able to employ architects W & D Thornton to design and build new premises running the length of Bank Street, the cost of this work was £4,169.19s.6d.
In 1909 the building was extended down Westgate to form the building we see today. The Hall emerged as one of the main venues of entertainment and education for the mass workforce of Edwardian Wakefield. It was a forerunner of the original cinema showing the latest silent movies in the Main Hall.
In May 1962 the Hall was bought by the Barnsley British Co Operative Society, exchanging hands again four years later when it was bought by the then Wakefield Corporation. It was sold again in 1997 to its present owners G.H.Leatham and Sons, estate agents.
1. We are not intending to buy the Hall and turn it into a musical utopia, if I won the big one on the lottery this week I would and it would be the pride of Wakefield.
2. The hall is owned by a Wakefield based Estate Agent, market forces dictate that if someone comes along with a good enough offer they would be a pretty poor business if they didnt sell. It is up to them who they sell it to and for what purpose, our job is make them feel a little bit guilty if they sell it for apartments but at the same time highlighting the potential of the Hall as a venue to a future buyer and to show how much the people of Wakefield love the place and would like to see it back in service.
3. It is not our intention to upset the current owners or try to jeopardize any potential sale they may have, we only wish have your pont of view taken into consideration.There are no plans to chain ourselves to the gates, but saying that I can imagine the anger if it where to turn into flats and apartments.
4. If we keep the Hall in the public eye not just locally but nationally then there is that chance that a knight in shining Armani will come along with the same ideas as us and Wakefield will at last have a venue to rival Leeds and Bradford.
There we go so I anyone has any ideas let us know, do you know any venues looking to buy another property, any big London venues need an outpost, its here ready and waiting.
Contributed by Derek Lines
