Stafford Borough Council urged to consider compulsory purchase and transfer to the community group to reopen the building as a multi-purpose arts/cultural hub
Grade II-listed, 1913, Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thorneley
The former Borough Library is a small but impressive classical building in the centre of Stafford, designed by Briggs, Wolstenholme and Thorneley following a funding grant by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The building once housed Clement Lindley Wragge’s collection of ethnographic, zoological, and geological material but it has since closed, laying vacant since 1998, and it is unclear where the collection is now. The council sold the building in 2012 and a planning application for its adaptive reuse as a restaurant was approved in 2013, but nothing has happened since, and it is currently being advertised on the open market at a sum of £750,000. The owner should consider whether this is an achievable price given the library’s state of repair, and explore the possibility of offering the building to a local community group who have plans to restore and reopen the building as an interdisciplinary cultural hub. Perhaps an interim use of the space could be offered?
The Victorian Society Director, Christopher Costelloe, said: ‘I hope inclusion in the Top Ten will spur Stafford Borough Council and the owners to urgently find a way to bring the old library back into use. A listed building in a town centre conservation area deserves far better than being left to rot for nearly a decade. Perhaps local campaigners could be allowed to use the building for free in return for helping with maintenance while the library’s long term future is decided? Retaining historic buildings like those in the Top Ten is vital to maintaining local identity and creating places in which people want to invest, live and work.
Status Update / March 2026
Planning permission for use as a restaurant and café was granted in 2019, but no action has been taken to adapt the building. Since then, it has been advertised on the open market with a notice that these permissions will need to be renewed upon completion.