Walsall town halls see 25pc rise in visitor numbers
Visitor numbers at the two main town halls in Walsall rose by more than 25 per cent after an increase in bookings and events, council chiefs have revealed.
There were an extra 2,000 people who came through the doors of the historic Walsall and Darlaston town halls during a three-month period, compared to the same quarter last year.
Between April and June 2012, a total of 7,963 attended a series of events at the town halls.
This rose to 10,035 in the first three months of the 2013/14 financial year, with leisure bosses highlighting bookings for improved attendances.
A live boxing event packed out Walsall Town Hall, with a further one planned for September.
The venues have also been hired for three wedding celebrations while a leisure and culture hub launched at Darlaston Town Hall in April.
Bosses have looked at the possibility of securing funding for improvements worth up to £500,000 at the main Darlaston building including modernising the kitchen, refurbishing the balcony and improving office and meeting room areas.
It comes after it was last year claimed that event organisers were shunning the venues for functions, leading to a shortfall in the amount of money raised from hiring out the buildings.
The authority had come £5,000 short of its £67,000 target. Since then, Reverend and the Makers have played at Walsall Town Hall, drawing in 700 people, with £10,000 spent on installing acoustic equipment at the venue ahead of the event.
Leisure councillor Anthony Harris said: "I'm thrilled to see people making use of our town halls for their big celebrations. Both Walsall and Darlaston town halls are superb buildings with real history attached to them and there can't be many other town centre buildings which can hold such a large number of people.
"We are always looking at new ways in which we can use the buildings and the live boxing has proved a real hit, with Walsall Town Hall packed out.
"In response to this we have got more boxing planned for September, which will, I'm sure, again prove a big success.
"In terms of Darlaston we launched the leisure and culture hub in April, which offers a range of activities for people of all ages at the town hall, from kids cheerleading to netball and Active Steps, which is attracting over 100 people every week."
