Take a look at this video showing Preston's Guild Hall as you've never seen it before
To mark the 140th anniversary of the Lancashire Post, we’re taking a look at some of Preston’s best-known landmarks. Today it’s the turn of the Guild Hall, which has quite the story to tell.
It's hosted David Bowie, Blondie, Bing Crosby and Elton John, but it's currently largely shuttered up, with its future hanging in the balance.
Preston's Guild Hall as we know it, was commissioned to replace Preston's Public Hall in Lune Street - which is now a pub currently known as 1842.
Brutalist in its form - like its neighbour, Preston Bus Station - the Guild Hall was designed by Robert Matthew, Johnson Marshall & Partners (RMJM), one of the leading architectural practices of the post-war period and considered a “revolutionary feat of architecture” at the time. But many residents of Preston were not keen on the heavy concrete block styling that contrasted so heavily with the Georgian terraces that made up the city centre.
The land where it would sit in Lancaster Road, Lord Street, and Tithebarn Street, was cleared of narrow passageways and old buildings, including the Ribble Motor Services office, and construction began in 1969.
The new venue was due to be ready for the Preston Guild of 1972, but after construction was delayed by builder strikes, it only officially opened in 1973.
It was designed to house two theatres with the ground floor level containing the Guild Hall Arcade shopping complex. With connectivity in mind, this was then linked to the Bus Station by a subway, where visitors would find themselves walking through a shop to get to the Guild Hall Arcade. Morrison's was one of the businesses to trade here and the premises also had a basement selling homewares and records. Access to Tithebarn Street, towards Church Street, existed through a tunnel walkway.
The Guild Hall Arcade has housed many retail businesses over the years. These included a chicken shop, a central kiosk tobacconist, an ironmonger, toy shop, cafes, shoe shop, tourist information centre, travel agent and a beauty and toiletries retailer.
Here’s a nostalgic look back at the glory days of St John’s Shopping Centre at the Guild Hall arcade
Events spaces
The complex’s two venues are the The Grand Hall which holds 2,034 people and the Charter Theatre which holds 780 people. The first music concert was held on January 9, 1973. The band Fumble were support to David Bowie. This was followed on January 30 by a performance by Led Zeppelin.
Other notable music artists to perform here include Elton John (1973, 1976, 1979), Queen (1974, 1975), The Jacksons (1979), Meatloaf (1986), The Stone Roses (1989), Van Morrison (1990, 1992), Blondie (2003). Bing Crosby's concert in September 1977 came less than a month before his death.
The Guild Hall also hosted various snooker championships between 1978 and 2019 and the University of Central Lancashire also held graduation ceremonies here for many years.
The Rigby years
In August 2018, complaints started to be voiced about problems at the Guild Hall. At that time, the Lancashire Post was contacted by artists who had performed at the Guild Hall, who said they were struggling to get payments owed.
Within 12 months, more than 200 creditors, including West End producers, comedy promoters and a school theatre festival were named in theatre publication The Stage as being owed a total of more than £4.5 million by the company behind Preston Guild Hall and Charter Theatre.
The theatre closed and went into administration in May 2019, when it shut its doors following a string of allegations of unpaid debts.
Just weeks later, in June 2019, Mr Rigby announced both the Charter Theatre and Guild Hall were both back in business. But this was quickly quashed by Beverley Budsworth, the administrator in control of Mr Rigby’s company – Preston Guild Hall Ltd – who said the 999-year lease had been forfeited due to what the city council said were “significant breaches” of the lease agreement.
Preston Guild Hall was returned to Preston City Council's ownership, with council leader Matthew Brown saying at the time they had been 'let down'.
Beset with problems
In April 2020 and back in council hands, the building had been due to host the Business Expo, but the event had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then it was set to reopen in November 2023 but this was delayed until March 2024 due to concerns over the use of aerated concrete on the site.
The 350-seater Guild Lounge launched in late 2024 and is operational in an unaffected part of the building, but Preston remains without the kind of high-profile entertainment venue it had previously boasted from when the Guild Hall opened back in 1973.
In March, the city council said it would spend "a maximum of one year" assessing renovation costs for the existing building while also exploring whether funding could be raised for a brand new facility - cost estimates for which have been put at between £60m and £100m.
The Preston and Ribble Valley MPs, Sir Mark Hendrick and Maya Ellis, have both written to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy appealing for support for the stricken venue. However, Mark Whittle, manager of Preston BID, told the Lancashire Post that a concerted push by the city to raise the issue with the government has not had the results he would have hoped. He said: "Partners across the city have been working hard, collaboratively, to encourage the government to understand the regional significance of the venue, and the value it brings to the city.
“Unfortunately, the response…has been less than encouraging, with them directing requests for engagement and support towards the Arts Council.
“All eyes need to be on Preston, the county’s administrative capital, to help us, as a city, find a workable, safe and futureproof solution, for a large-scale leisure, entertainment and conference facility in the city, in the very near future".
2026 latest
This year, the Guild Hall was placed on the Theatres at Risk Register for the first time. The 2026 edition of that list - compiled annually by the Theatres Trust advisory body - this year contains 39 venues deemed to be under threat, with Preston’s mothballed cultural heart being one of two added to the tally.
In June, Preston City Council said they had commissioned IPW, a specialist sports, venues, entertainment, and business events consultancy, to carry out feasibility work assessing the venue's viability, with the report expected later in the year.
Councillor Matthew Brown, Leader of Preston City Council, said: “We recognise the need for, and how important it is, to have a large-scale entertainment and conferencing centre in the city centre, and we are exploring all possibilities for the Guild Hall's future.
"We continue to lobby for further central government investment in the city to support Preston's art and culture sector, because whether we decide to refurbish the existing building, or demolish and build a new venue, the costs are way beyond anything the City Council can afford on its own, with initial estimated costs coming at least £70 million upwards.”
Councillor Martyn Rawlinson said: “We are not tied to the footprint of the former Guild Hall site; however, it does occupy an excellent central location close to public transportation hubs, and it could potentially end up being more costly to build elsewhere, as the land would not be in Council ownership.
“What is important, whether we decide to refurbish the existing building or build a new venue, it needs to be meaningful and flexible, equipped to host a variety of events and occasions from big conferences to intimate community gatherings, and a space that reflects the modern needs of the city that we can all be proud of.”