Music Hall, Shrewsbury

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Façade of the Shrewsbury Music Hall.
Façade of the Shrewsbury Music Hall.

The Music Hall in Shrewsbury, England, is a large Victorian building owned by Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council and currently houses the borough's theatre and central tourist information centre, as well as a cafe and some council offices.

It is located on The Square in Shrewsbury town centre. In front of it is the Old Market Hall, now used as the borough council's cinema which was formely housed within the Music Hall itself.

The site was once the location of the town's fire service and the passage which runs through the music hall and out onto Swan Hill is called Fire Office Passage. A sign mentioning this is to be found on the right hand side as one enters the music hall from The Square. To the rear of the music hall is Vaughan's Mansion, a substantially intact 13th century stone and timber framed hall-house formerly owned by one of the town's most important families but largely obscured my later additions. The building also includes a basement that was intended for use as a nuclear fallout shelter.

The borough council are currently building a new theatre and entertainment venue in Frankwell, named 'Theatre Severn', about a mile from the music hall. The theatre will therefore move to this new complex in the near future. Following the move, the music hall will likely be used as the town's main museum, retaining the cafe and tourist information centre. Currently the museum is located in Rowley's House, on Barker Street.

The facade of the building is famous as it doubled as the London Exchange Building in the popular 1984 film, A Christmas Carol.

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