Dudley Council will soon be looking for an organisation to take on the running of the landmark Stourbridge Town Hall after a bid by the popular King Edward VI College in Stourbridge was withdrawn.

While conversations with the college were positive, staff felt that the move wasn’t right for them as it would have taken them away from their core focus of providing high quality education. 

Dudley CVS has been successfully running Brierley Hill Civic Hall for the past three years and bids are currently being invited to run Halesowen’s Cornbow Hall. Expressions of interest to run the Stourbridge venue will go out shortly. Councillor Keiran Casey, cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise, said:

“We are of course disappointed that the college is no longer able to pursue the idea of running the hall, but we completely understand their reasons and appreciate that they must put their core business first".

“We will now be looking to see if any other parties would be interested in running the Town Hall, but I must stress that this is an important local building and finding the right group to run it is essential".

"We want someone that shares our vision in creating a busy, vibrant entertainment venue and that will work together with all involved to ensure this remains a community facility"

Remley Mann, Principal at King Edward VI College, added:

“Following a process of due diligence and in consideration of the college’s current strategic options, we have decided to focus on our core business, which is delivering high quality A-level education to the young people within our community.  

"The governors of the college have decided, therefore, not to proceed with the community asset transfer of Stourbridge Town Hall but we would like to thank the council for giving us this opportunity."

Community asset transfer involves the transfer of responsibility for buildings or land from the local authority to a voluntary or community organisation, securing its future for the long term while creating a saving for the local authority allowing it to further invest in services for local people.