The Grade II-listed Corn Exchange/Former Town Hall in Swindon was built in 1852-54 by Sampson Sage & E Robertson with additions by Wilson and Willcox.
Grade II-listed, 1852-54, Sampson Sage and E. Robertson
The former Swindon Town Hall was commissioned in 1852 when the local council, who had until then met at the Goddard Arms, decided that a more permanent residence was in order. The building was erected by the local builder, George Major, and became a source of civic pride when it opened in 1852, distinguished by its principal front of five bays, separated by pilasters in the Tuscan order. The extensions of 1866, to the rear on a triangular site and to the left as a tower, accommodated a corn exchange, to the designs of Willson and Wilcox of Bath. Since then, the building has served in several capacities, notably becoming a roller skating rink when the town hall moved to new premises in 1891, and then a cinema called ‘The Rink’ in 1919. Most recently used as a dance hall, it fell out of use in the 1980s and has been vacant ever since, subject to arson attacks in 2003 and 2004. The town bid have called on the owner, or perhaps the local council, to step in and take decisive remedial action.
Christopher Costelloe, Director of the The Victorian Society, said: ‘Swindon is now a Heritage Action Zone, and this building is one of several prominent historic buildings in Swindon that should be a priority. An imaginative and sensitive scheme is needed to return the complex to its place at the heart of the town’s life.’
Status Update / March 2026
In 2023, unconfirmed reports in the local press indicated that a buyer had been founded and that it was possible a planning application would be submitted that year. This never happened, but in 2026, these reports resurfaced, and a spokesperson for the local council confirmed that new owners were in place and ‘should be coming forward with some news and announcements soon’. The current proposals see the building and ancillary structures incorporated into a mixed use development, anchored by a 110-key B Corp Hotel, which will help ‘restore the social heart and soul of Old Town’.