The Old Town Hall is a building on Church Street in the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Poulton-le-Fylde Poulton-le-Fylde (), commonly shortened to Poulton, is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. In the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,264. There is evidence of human habitation ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. The building, which is located just beyond the northern end of Market Place, started life as a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

before becoming a municipal building and then reverting to use as a public house.

History

The first municipal building in the town was a building known as the Moot Hall, which stood at the southern end of the adjacent Market Place, just in front of the

market cross A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron. History Market crosse ...

, in late medieval times. Following significant population growth, particularly after the harbours on the

River Wyre The River Wyre is a river in Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, which flows into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. It is approximately 28 miles (45 km) in length. The river is a County Biological Heritage Site and has a sheltered estuary ...

were developed, the area became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

in 1900. The new civic leaders originally held their meetings in a variety of places, but after finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, they decided to establish a dedicated meeting place. The site they selected had originally been developed as the Bay Horse Inn in 1869. The Bay Horse Inn had been rebuilt in redbrick with stone dressings, to a Victorian style design, in 1910, seemingly dropping the ''inn'' part of the name, around that time. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Church Street. The ground floor was slightly recessed in relation to the upper floors and featured a central doorway which was flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s surmounted by

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

s supporting the upper floors of the building. The central bay was fenestrated by a single

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

on the first floor and a small

Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more m ...

at attic level. The outer bays were fenestrated by

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

s with stone surrounds on the ground floor and by pairs of casement windows on the upper floors; the outer bays were surmounted

Tudor-style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

gables. The council acquired the building in 1927 and converted the interior for use as council offices at that time. A butcher's shop adjoined the building to the left, at the corner of what was Burlington Avenue. Both were demolished in 1970 with the construction of the Teanlowe Centre shopping precinct. The building continued to serve as the headquarters of Poulton-le-Fylde Urban District Council for much of the 20th century, and then briefly served as the meeting place of the enlarged

Wyre Borough Council Wyre may refer to: Places * Wyre, Orkney, an island in Scotland * Borough of Wyre, a local government district in Lancashire, England ** Wyre (UK Parliament constituency) * River Wyre, a river in Lancashire, England * Wyre Forest, a woodland in ...

after it was formed in 1974; however, the building ceased to be the local seat of government in 1988, when the council relocated to the former Poulton Teacher Training College in Breck Road, which was converted for use as Wyre Civic Centre. The building in Church Street was converted back to its former use, as a public house, and was renamed the "Old Town Hall" at that time. It was extensively refurbished in 2012. In 2008,

Wyre Council Wyre is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The population of the non-metropolitan district at the 2011 census was 107,749. The district borders the unitary authority area of Blackpool as well as the dist ...

's ''Poulton-le-Fylde Conservation Area Appraisal'' included the property for its historic value, but stated that, due to the many alterations made to it over time, it was unlikely that listed status would be achieved.

References

{{Borough of Wyre buildings Buildings and structures in Poulton-le-Fylde Government buildings completed in 1910 1910 establishments in England City and town halls in Lancashire