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The new Guildhall
Reproduced from 1902 Ordnance Survey map with the kind permission of the Ordnance Survey
The new city hall, called the Guildhall, was opened in 1892, on the north side of Eastgate Street on the site formerly occupied by Sir Thomas Rich's school. It was designed by G. Hunt in a Renaissance style and extended back from Eastgate Street as far as New Inn Lane. It included offices for the town clerk, accountant, surveyor and other officials on the ground floor while the council chamber, committee rooms, mayor's parlour, and public hall were on the first floor. The city council headquarters remained at the Guildhall until 1985, when the ground floor was leased to the Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society (C&G) and the council moved into the newly converted Herbert Warehouse at the docks. The upper floors remained in city council hands and were converted into a highly popular arts centre; the council chamber became a cinema with capacity to seat 100 people in 1991, while the main hall, which has a capacity to seat 400 people, is still available for public use.
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