St Andrews Hall
The Halls is a multi-use cultural venue owned and run by Norwich City Council, and a Grade I listed ancient monument. The building passed into public ownership during the Reformation in 1538 and is the most intact medieval friary in England in secular use. Today it is a successful receiving house and the largest concert venue in the city.
Norwich City Council successfully bid for £3.6m of Town Deal funding to upgrade The Halls. The renovations will transform the Halls, a unique city centre heritage asset, into a multi-use performance venue and enable Norwich to capitalise on the rapidly growing cultural economy in the city.
Upgrades to the venue will be achieved by investing in the facilities, including audio visual equipment and lighting, a major redesign to improve flow and accessibility, a revamp of the outside space, and an enhanced café and bar offer.
Creating a high quality, multi-use venue at The Halls is part of the city council’s ongoing work and collaboration with cultural partners to open up more spaces, attract a greater variety of arts and culture, and increase the overall number of events - appealing to wider audiences and broadening the cultural activities on offer in Norwich.
Norwich has a strong existing cultural landscape and this project to develop The Halls will support the wider cultural provision in the city, as well as contributing to the Norwich 2040 Vision aims to be a creative, fair, liveable, connected, and dynamic city. It will also enable the city council to act as a responsible steward of the building and ensure its future sustainability.The project is predicted to complete in Spring 2025 and in the meantime The Halls will be closed while the improvements are carried out.
You may have noticed the fantastic illustrations on the hoardings around The Halls which are currently undergoing refurbishment with completion scheduled for Spring 2025. They were commissioned by the council from Norwich-based graphic artist Ben Wilson and depict some of the long history of the Grade I listed Scheduled Monument at St Andrew’s Plain, stretching back to its origins in the 14th century.
Ben has also produced a video for our YouTube channel, website and social media use.
