The Return of Hornsey Town Hall (continued)

The close of a tumultuous year in the life of Crouch End’s longest running development. Four years late (or is it five?), the multi-million restoration is – yes we mean it – finally complete! The last few weeks have seen the first tentative moves: the hotel is open for bookings, some spaces in the public building available for hire, and yes, a GRAND FESTIVE JAMBOREE (mostly provided by the Crouch End Festival) is about to happen. Saturday 6th!

See Festive Grand Launch of HTH

And visit the new HTH website at HornseyTH.com

For the hotel see Dao by Dorsett North London

The news is beginning to emerge across the media and Haringey council are loudly trumpeting the achievement, and so they should, we have an expensively restored listed landmark in town and a new community asset with much space for local use. Although, it is worth remembering there is no public funding here, indeed the main aim of Haringey was to dispose of the building, with no future liability…  the challenge for the new owners is how exactly the place will be viable.

For those following the latest twists and turns, a few reminders of this year’s ride: At the beginning of the year we heard that the developers, FEC, had sold the whole place to another far-east investor. As far as we know they still have, but things have gone awfully quiet and we expect more news shortly. A little earlier the erstwhile long-standing arts centre operator, Time+Space, also left the project to be replaced by General Projects and AND London, new operators seemingly without a clear arts remit. In September equally significant news as the contractors, Ardmore, filed for administration. We await news of practical completion.

It is difficult to keep up and as mentioned earlier, there are lingering concerns about the contents of the arts fit-out and the subsequent cultural programme, which remains undefined. But HTH presents the supreme regenerative opportunity over the next decade for Crouch End, and we believe a fully realised cultural centre capable of producing significant events is a key component. So, as the ‘phased’ opening continues we are keen to see:

• exactly what new owners will bring to the party
• what a final fit-out might look like
• when a complete cosmetic makeover of the Square will happen (a sore point for many)
• what restaurants and pavement cafes emerge either side of the Square (maybe by Easter?)
• and we look forward to hearing what the new spaces (such as the ground floor function room 35, and the upstairs balcony space) will be used for.

But anyway, this is a moment to celebrate and we’re much relieved to see it happening at long last. We urge the community to visit and view the multi-million restoration of this grade II* listed building. This is the future of Crouch End, let’s get behind it.

Do see the earlier June HTH blog for a more detailed discussion.