Bedminster Town Hall

In the late 19th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the Bedminster Town Hall Company, to finance and commission a new public hall for the parish.^[1] The site they selected was on the southwest side of Cannon Street.^[2]

The new building was designed in the Italianate style, built in brick at a cost of nearly £6,000 and was completed in 1891.^[3] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of four bays facing onto Cannon Street. The central two bays on the ground floor featured round headed openings flanked by half-height columns with imposts supporting architraves. The outer bays on the ground floor and all the bays on the first floor were fenestrated by bi-partite round headed windows with tracery. There were pilasters separating the bays on the first floor and, at roof level, there was a modillioned cornice. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which was 67 feet (20 m) long and 51 feet (16 m) wide.^[4] It had seating for 750 people on the ground floor, 450 in the gallery, and standing room for another 350 people. An adjoining building, erected at the same time, housed a liberal club.^[5]

The building was extensively used as a venue for concerts hosted by the Bristol South Musical Society.^[6] Performers included the contralto, Dame Clara Butt, who appeared in April 1893^[7] and again in December 1894.^[8][9][10] However, the venture was not financially successful and the company which had developed the building was wound up in 1898.^[1] In 1909, the building was leased to the cinema pioneer, Ralph Pringle, who converted it into a cinema.^[11][12][13] It remained an independent cinema until 1954, when it was closed and was converted into a shopping mall. It was officially reopened as the "Bedminster Shopping Hall" on 11 February 1954.^[14] It was described two years later in the Estates Gazette as a "unique arcade" with "28 shops".^[15]

The façade was later rebuilt in the modern style with a shop front on the ground floor and a series of nine tall casement windows on the first floor. By the early 21st century, it accommodated a furniture store, trading since around 2001 as Bedmaker,^[16][17] and since around 2009, as Kustom Floors.^[18][19][20]