A venue with a soul and a community hub that's been hosting famous names for decades

The venue cost £5,000 to build (the equivalent of £823,916.44 today) and features three different rooms, from the iconic and decorative Theatre Hall to the Wollaston Studio, an intimate space on the first floor of the Town Hall, and the cinema, a 14-foot screen with surround sound.

The hall itself is the main draw, complete with a comprehensive lighting rig, follow spots, sound system and tiered seating, along with an orchestra pit and extremely spacious dressing room facilities.

Theatre manager Kelly Martin said the hall was paid for by public subscription by the people of Stourbridge and spoke of how the area around it had developed over the years.

She said: "The town had been in existence before the town hall and where the Tesco and the Crown Centre are now were once a car park and the old town market, with the Tesco being built 11 years ago.

"Basically, the Crown Centre got built around it and it became part of the centre, similar to the set up of Birmingham Symphony Hall."

Ms Martin said the hall had survived and thrived due to its diversity.

She said: "It's the community spirit which has kept it going and it's a big hub for the community to come to and attend the events we have here.

"We've got a vibrant programme of live comedy, music, cinema, dance, children's shows, theatre productions and community events and, you name it, we'll put it on - there's a real call for things here.

"There's also a real hunger for it within the community just to have these types of events and we find that they're always very well attended."

The hall has been the setting for shows by some big names over the years, including The Who, the Hollies, the Kinks, the Moody Blues and Cream, as well as performances from Robert Plant, who attended shows there as a youngster.

Upcoming shows feature some big names, such as Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder, Milton Jones, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Jesus Jones.

Ms Martin said the plan was to bring more music back to the venue and said the town hall was an established venue which had ridden the Covid wave and become a place to be for performers.

She said: "People are continually asking us to put on more musical acts and we're forever chasing new and upcoming acts to come and play at the venue.

"A thing I would say is that after the pandemic, a lot of venues have underperformed and struggled to get back on their feet, so my message to them is to take a change on something new as we've established a lot of events, up-and-coming performers and organisations.

"Without the support of the community, we'd be very limited in what we can do in the future, so I think it's a very exciting time for the venue with the shows we're putting on."

The venue itself has been designed to welcome all ages and abilities, with plans in place to become more inclusive for people with disabilities and special needs, such as removing an area of the town hall to set up a changing places facility, which will include new accessible toilets.

It also has a well-stocked bar, with Molson Coors providing the drinks as the official brewery and a large selection of ales, wines, ciders and beers, plus a snack bar for children which includes ice cream, chocolates and soft drinks, all at competitive prices that Ms Martin said don't break the bank.

She said the venue itself was what made it special for her, saying that it was a beautiful room with a soul.

She said: "I think it has such ornate features and a real soul, because you can go to different venues that have been renovated and they lost their soul and heart.

"Stourbridge Town Hall has managed to keep that soul within all its renovations over the years and I think we've managed to keep that in place."