Harrogate International Centre

 
Media Centre




 
Royal Hall

Royal Hall Open Days

Release Date: 25 July 2008
 
The Royal Hall in Harrogate has added new dates to their summer open days series following the success through June and July. These open days are for anyone interested in seeing the results of the £10.7m restoration work, which took two years to complete.
 
HIC, (Harrogate International Centre), who manage and operate the building, were overwhelmed during the public open day held on the May day bank holiday when five and half thousand visitors toured the Royal Hall in just five hours. HIC Director, Stuart Quin said, "It was an incredible sight, people were queuing for half a mile to come and see the Hall. It shows how important the Hall is to the local community. And of course it is a national treasure as it is the only surviving Kursaal in mainland UK."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
The doors will be open between 10am and 4pm on:
 
Monday 4 August
Tuesday 26 August
Monday 22 September
Monday 29 September
 
Visitors can stroll through the Hall at their leisure using a tour guide leaflet. There will also be a series of display banners detailing the Royal Hall's history and the restoration project, and there will be plenty of staff on duty to answer questions.
 
Originally built in 1903, and known as the Kursaal (a German word meaning cure hall), the name was changed to Royal Hall to reflect a more patriotic position during World War 1.  The restoration took 37,000 man-hours to complete and over 112,500 sheets of 23.5 carat gold leaf were used.
 
The Royal Hall has a seating capacity for up to 1,000 and bookings for a wide range of events from concerts and conferences, corporate events and community events, to gala dinners and tea dances are already in the diary.
 
For more information about the Royal Hall visit www.royalhall.co.uk and put a note in your diary for a 'royal' day out.