Our Town Hall is so hidden-away

Jul 23 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

I WILL be off to Dewsbury this evening to report on the bun-fight that is the monthly meeting of Kirklees Council.

For reasons of which I am not aware the get-together has been moved from its usual location in Huddersfield.

If I was an egotist I would say that my column a few weeks ago about the shameful state of the council chamber in Huddersfield Town Hall has forced the move. But I’m sure that’s not the case.

Whatever the explanation for the change of location, I’m glad to be going to Dewsbury today. The town, along with Batley, is blessed with a town hall worthy of the name.

Unfortunately Huddersfield is not.

It’s not so much the interior of each building that makes me say this; it’s the setting.

A town hall requires a public square. It needs a clear area in front of it which announces: “I am an important building, no other building may come near me.’’

Dewsbury and Batley town halls both have this. As does Leeds, and just about every other town or city hall I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of them).

But Huddersfield does not. The town hall is just sat there in Ramsden Street, wedged in between Corporation Street and Peel Street. Its front door – which is at the side – isn’t even obvious.

A stranger to Huddersfield could breeze past the Town Hall without even being aware it was there.

At least in Dewsbury and Batley there is a wide open space in front of the main civic building, such that even someone visiting those towns for the first time would pass by and think: “Oh, that must be the town hall.”

But not in Huddersfield. There are only two open spaces in the town centre, St George’s Square and Huddersfield Parish Church.

A few summers ago a colleague and I used to regularly visit the churchyard for our midday pasties. But after a while we gave up on the place. It was a combination of the pigeons and the drunks that did it.

So that just leaves St George’s Square as a civic space. And of course it’s full of construction equipment at the moment.

There’s £4m worth of our money going into regenerating the historic square. I hope it works; I really hope that money improves on what was there before.

Because, like many residents of Huddersfield, I liked the old square. A lot.

OK, maybe it needed a lick of paint here and there, but it was a grand Victorian square, the kind of place that announced to the world: “This is a great town.”

Like thousands of outsiders who came to Huddersfield by train it was the first thing I saw of the town. I was mightily impressed.

Let’s hope the new square is even better.