Medieval venue ready for reopening after renovation

Preparations are under way for the first concert at a 14th Century venue in Norwich following a major renovation.

St Andrew's Hall and Blackfriars' Hall, collectively known as The Halls, were closed for repairs at the beginning of 2024 and were due to reopen last year.

The doors of The Halls will open to visitors on Thursday but the BBC has been given exclusive access ahead of its reopening.

Essential repairs have been made to the building's roof, and the the project has also seen changes designed to make it more of a "multi-use" venue.

Clare Hubery, culture and leisure manager at Norwich City Council, said the lighting and audio-visual technology had been improved, and new lifts and ramps made the building more accessible.

"We've thought about the flow of the building. We have often felt that it was a collection of different buildings. The cloisters were not often seen by people," she said.

"We hope [that with the] materials and colours and how people move around the building, people will experience more of it."

On Thursday, The Halls will host its first event since the work costing £7.8m was completed with a concert by the University of East Anglia Choir and Symphony Orchestra, followed by a performance on Saturday by the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.

Norwich Beer Festival is expected to return to the venue, too.

The site due to have been reopened last year but Hubery said there had been numerous challenges along the way, such as the former use of building materials which would not be used nowadays.

"Throughout this project we have tried to put that right to safeguard The Halls for the next generation," she said.

"Our hope is it becomes one of the anchor points of the city's cultural and community sector, and I think what we have done here will help it move into that space and people will enjoy it for years to come."

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