£2.6m grant ‘has left landmark in strong position’
Piece Hall exceeded financial targets
EMERGENCY GRANTS of £2.6m during the Covid-19 pandemic has left a Yorkshire landmark building in “a strong financial position”, according to a report.
Lockdown resulted in an instant 80 per cent drop in commercial income for Grade I-listed Piece Hall, the only remaining Georgian cloth hall in the world.
However, a review by the Piece Hall Trust, says grants, some of them “hard fought and hard won”, meant they not only exceeded their financial targets for 2020-21 but were also on track to deliver on forecasts for 2021-22.
Tenants were given rent holidays, allowing them to stay afloat so when visitors were allowed back there was plenty to attract them alongside special events.
Funding came from bodies including the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Historic England, Arts Council England, the Foyle Foundation and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
The report said: “One essential retailer was able to stay open, for others there were virtual openings and online markets with click and collect, plus a weekly restaurant delivery service.
“When guidelines allowed it, socially distanced theatre, dance, music, family fun days and activity trails took place.”
They also offered free meals during half-term for children who would usually rely on free school dinners and despite being closed to the public The Trading Rooms prepared 20,000 free hot meals for NHS workers.
After Covid restrictions eased visitors flocked back. From April 2021 to November 2021, 1.8 million people come to the Piece Hall, including a record 60,000 on one November weekend.
Trust chair Sir Roger Marsh stressed the key financial role the Piece Hall, which reopened in 2017 after decades of neglect and underinvestment, has in boosting Calderdale’s wider economy and that of the region.
Summer 2021’s series of live concerts attracted 40,000 people to see big names such as New Order, Kaiser Chiefs, Manic Street Preachers, The Specials and The Cribs, which meant bookings for hotels and restaurants in the area.
Sir Roger said: “There is no doubt that the Piece Hall has not only once again put Halifax and Calderdale on the map but kickstarted some much-needed economic and emotional recovery.”
Chief Executive Nicky ChanceThompson said securing the funding was a “lifeline” which allowed the Piece Hall to be ready for visitors returning after lockdown, with benefits for the wider economy.
“When we were able to reopen the gates, visitors in their thousands flocked through, helping us to move quickly from the phase of resilience (survival) to successful reopening and then revival in terms of kickstarting the local economy,” she said.
The trust aims to get back to the pre-lockdown position where 77 per cent of its income is generated by its own commercial activities, with 8.5 per cent from Calderdale Council and 14.5 per cent from other public funders.
It contrast it said most other national heritage assets require 60 per cent public funding.
It has not only put Halifax on the map but kickstarted an economic recovery. Sir Roger Marsh, chair of The Piece Hall Trust.