It is one of Ripon’s most historic and magnificent buildings, with a balcony proudly overlooking the market square.

But Ripon Town Hall’s Georgian façade hides an interior that has been decaying and largely empty for 50 years.

The Stray Ferret was given a tour of the grade two listed building this week amid hopes of a multi-million pound regeneration.

We saw dust-filled rooms piled with boxes and rickety wooden staircases. It felt a million miles away from the heart of a modern city.

A sizeable garden at the back towards Water Skellgate includes a nuclear bunker.

There is enormous potential — but the scale of the challenge is daunting.

50 years of neglect

Ripon Town Hall, which was designed by James Wyatt and completed in 1799, was privately owned until it became a municipal building in 1897.

As the home of Ripon and Pateley Bridge Rural District Council from 1937 until 1974, it was a thriving hub of local government — a place where people came to pay bills and report potholes.

But after local government reorganisation in 1974, staff relocated to the new borough council in Harrogate and the building was largely left to rack and ruin.

Queen Elizabeth II’s 2004 visit, when she waved from the balcony and ate beef in the council chamber, was the last time the town hall received significant attention. A plaque near the front door commemorates King Charles III’s 2002 visit during his time as Prince of Wales.

Now only a handful of Ripon City Council staff, seasonal tourist information staff from North Yorkshire Council and reputed ghosts frequent the building.

It certainly felt ghostly when Councillor Andrew Williams and caretaker Martin Rodgers showed us round this week. Vast dark chasms of empty space provide an eerie feel.

There are about 20 rooms spread across a cellar, ground floor, first floor, second floor and disused caretaker’s lodge in the attic. 

Only the chamber, where city council meetings take place, the mayor’s parlour and the ground floor areas occupied by city council staff and tourist information employees are regularly used.

Ripon and District Amateur Radio Society meet in the nuclear bunker, but most local people never even enter a building that echoes in every deserted corner with local history. 

For instance, the cellar has a vault with an almighty door that once housed museum treasures. 

The overarching impression is of wasted space — and huge potential.

Return to glory?

The latest round of local government reorganisation could unlock that potential. 

North Yorkshire Council, which replaced Harrogate Borough Council in 2023, has agreed to give Ripon City Council a 99-year lease on the town hall, the Wakeman’s House and Hugh Ripley Hall on a £1-a-year peppercorn rent.

Once the legalities are completed, the city council wants to apply for funding to restore the town hall to its former glory and open it up for public use 

Councillor Andrew Williams, who serves on both councils and brokered the deal, said the £4.5 million refurbishment of nearby Skipton Town Hall, which hosts Craven Museum, a shop, gallery, and visitor centre, and holds events and education workshops, highlights what can be achieved.

But he added it would be up to Ripon people to decide what they wanted to do with their town hall.

Cllr Williams said:

Public tours

The city council plans to hold public tours of the town hall when the asset transfer is finalised and run a consultation on what the building could be used for.

Weddings, which were held in the chamber until 2015, could be revived. An escape room and an archives room are possibilities, as well as a space to display local treasures.

David Winpenny, of Ripon Civic Society, said the town hall was “one of the most important public buildings in the city”.

He added: 

A long road lies ahead — but the chance to restore civic pride in the heart of Ripon looks worth the journey.