On 30th October 2024, it will have been 110 years since Portobello Town Hall was officially opened on 30th October 1914 by the Provost Sir Robert Kirk Inches.
The first town hall was built in 1863 is now the Baptist Church. The second one, built on the High Street in1878 has been the library, the Police Station and is now vacant.
The third and current Town Hall was built for the people of Portobello as a reward for agreeing to become part of Edinburgh in 1896.
The chosen spot was the site of Inverey House, a residential industrial school for orphaned girls. The girls were taught domestic skills and worked in the laundry attached to the school.
When the house was demolished some rooms at the back were incorporated into the new building, and they form the present-day kitchen and dressing rooms. The new building designed by James Anderson Williamson cost £8000 to build.
The result was this ionic building we have today.
Since then, it has been in regular use. It quickly became the hub of the community with dances, concerts, meetings, & shows. Sir Harry Lauder, is believed to have performed here.
During the 70’s there was some overspill from the Edinburgh Fringe. Lindsay Kemp (mime artist) and the Scottish singer, Andy Stewart, were amongst the many performers, treading the ‘Porty Boards’.
Despite being well used over the years. By the turn of the millennium, the Town Hall was beginning to look shabby. Running at a loss, there was no money for refurbishment and finally in June 2019, it was closed for good and put out for lease.
In 2020 a group of enthusiastic locals got together to try to ‘save’ the town hall. They put together a 37 page proposal to run the hall as a charity. Calling themselves ‘Portobello Central’ and with a lot of support from the community, they managed to secure a 25 year lease.
The City of Edinburgh Council secured a grant of £350,000 from The Scottish Government’s Place Based Investment Programme and work was done on the roof, walls & ceiling. Finally on the 1st June 2023 the doors opened and Portobello Town Hall started breathing again.
Further grants from Awards for All, the Architectural Heritage Fund and the Levelling Up Fund Despite the initial help us to renovate and improve the building and make it a little less ‘Shabby Chic’.
The hall has been buzzing ever since with activity and enquiries for bookings.
We didn’t expect to be so successful, straight away, which meant slotting in the refurbishment in between the many events. We were able to employ a venue manager, who has been amazing. We now have another three employees in part time positions.
The growth over this first year has been immense. Regular and varied events, and we are looking forward to our second Pantomime run in December.
So, as we reach the 110th anniversary on 30th October, we have bookings going well into 2025. We can look forward to another 110 years of this incredible building that has always contributed to putting life into Portobello High Street.
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