Ludlow Assembly Rooms opens its doors after three years and £3.5m refurbishment

The historic building in the centre of Ludlow has been transformed into a state of the art entertainment venue, equipped with a new cafe and auditorium.

Work was undertaken by Pave Aways and the project was predominantly funded by Shropshire Council, with additional money raised by Ludlow Assembly Rooms.

Grants were also received from the European Regional Development Fund and Arts Council England to complete the £3.5 million project.

CEO of Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Helen Hughes, said: "It has been worth the prolonged wait as what we have now is a thoroughly modernised building, with state of the art air handling, photovoltaic panels on the roof to generate electricity, a brand new lift and a fabulous new raked auditorium.

"As many will have spotted, in July we were able to open the ground floor, comprising of our new café – the wonderful Bill’s Kitchen where you will find an array of tasty meals, snacks and afternoon tea options, and the visitor information centre.”

The visitor centre has a new retail arm, featuring work by local artists’ and Ludlow themed gifts. The box office will also be within this space and work is underway to set this up as quickly as we can. The visitor information centre is entirely run by volunteers.

While the builders were busy finishing off their planned work, amazing teams of volunteers were working hard on all manner of jobs including constructing a new bar by utilising wood from the old auditorium doors.

Visitors will be able to enjoy a volunteer made artistic carving that takes pride of place at the front of the bar.

“We are incredibly grateful to our volunteers who have armed themselves with paint brushes and decorated those parts of the building that were not part of the project – the dressing rooms, the office, and other hidden corners," said chair Laura Johnston.

The core staff team is very small, so help from volunteers has long supported their work and volunteers old and new are currently gearing up to help once the building is again a thriving arts and community centre.

“It has been really humbling and heart warming to see these groups of volunteers turning up day after day to help get the building ready," added Helen.

It’s been quite the journey as the building was found to have been in a much worse state than anticipated and more remedial work had to be undertaken than planned. Add on to that the cessation of work for Covid, and the original six months turned into three years.

Helen said: "A variety of obstacles were encountered; some expected such as asbestos, others not so much, such as death watch beetle, and some have just been plain frustrating – the all-singing-all-dancing IT systems installed to support air handling and CCTV not talking to our existing system.

"And sadly during the prolonged nature of the building works, the cinema screen was severely damaged – those following our social media will have seen that a new one has just arrived from Italy and looks very smart."

There are still several ‘finishing touches’ to be completed, but it has been agreed by the trustees that opening the doors is more important – and are sure that audiences will be understanding about the odd job that still needs completing.

The Assembly Rooms has programmed a lively schedule for the autumn season with the first event due to take place on October 11.

Initially, only 50 per cent capacity will be sold to allow for social distancing upon return and patrons are asked to wear a facemask when moving around the building.

“Ludlow has been patient while all this work has been undertaken and we hope you will think that your patience has been well rewarded," Helen said.

"This timing is all rather tight, but we just couldn’t wait any longer to welcome you back."

Tickets will be available via the website – www.ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk or in the box office which will open very soon.