Historic building given £1m to restore and re-open

A historic Grade II* Listed building in Coventry will be restored and opened to the public with £1m funding from Arts Council England, it has been announced.

Historic Coventry Trust, a charity focused on restoring Coventry’s heritage buildings, will restore and open Drapers’ Hall in Bayley Lane, in the city’s Cathedral Quarter, as a music and education venue.

The building and its interiors will be adapted for classical music performances and music education facilities for young people.

The Prince’s Foundation will project manage the restoration and re-purposing of the building, which was built in 1832 and has been empty since the early 1990s, with an aim for the venue to be opened in 2020, in time for Coventry’s city of culture status in 2021.

Ian Harrabin, chairman of Historic Coventry Trust, says: “Drapers’ Hall is a real gem and has lain empty for decades. The council has done a great job in keeping it in repair, but any building is at risk if it isn’t used.

“It is the use of the building that makes the project so exciting. It’s the chance to bring it back to its original use as a performance space, and also as a place for training Coventry’s musicians of tomorrow. The ballroom built for the city’s Georgian elite will be restored for everyone.”