Selby Town Hall

Description

Selby Town Hall is an award winning arts centre, located in a prominent position at the end of Selby's main street, Gowthorpe. The intimate venue, with a seating capacity of up to 150, hosts world class performances from across a range of art forms including music, comedy and theatre.

Built as a Methodist chapel in 1862, the venue ceased operating as a place of worship in August 1956. For several years following, it was used as a tyre depot, but the building was eventually left derelict and fell into disrepair in the late 80s. In 1992, Selby Town Council bought and renovated the premises which now houses the Town Council offices as well as the main performance space and a smaller studio room.

The Town Hall first opened its doors as a regular performance venue in September 2003 and has hosted many major stars, past and present, including The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, Dara O'Briain, The Wombats, Jenny Eclair, Chris Farlowe, Jeremy Hardy, Two Door Cinema Club, Alan Carr, Midge Ure, Wilko Johnson, Steve Howe and Jon Richardson.

The venue has been supported over the past twelve years by Selby Town Council, aided by several grants from Arts Council England, and has developed a reputation as one of the finest small concert spaces in the region, winning the innaugural Yorkshire Evening Post Nightlife Award for Best Live Venue in 2006 where it beat off competition from Leeds City Varieties, Jongleurs and Leeds Cockpit amongst others!

The Town Hall presents an incredibly diverse programme of professional performances from bluegrass to stand up comedy, boogie woogie to contemporary dance and world music to classic theatre, over two seasons of events each year. The Town Hall also co-ordinates a number of workshops for local schools and has previously hosted monthly band nights for under 20s and Sunday afternoon classical recitals.

While the acts are always of an international quality, the Town Hall still retains the intimate feel of a venue lovingly run by a small team of staff and volunteers who want to see great performances taking place right here in our little Yorkshire market town.