Future use of High Barnet’s historic Tudor Hall uncertain once again after Barnet Museum trustees withdraw their offer 

Barnet Museum’s trustees have had to withdraw their bid to save High Barnet’s historic Tudor Hall for community use because of a lack of financial resources to repair and then maintain the building.

An offer to purchase the hall – which is on the market with a guide price of £1 million – was accepted by Barnet and Southgate College earlier this year.

Prospective funding for the purchase had been secured from the Hadley Trust and the sale appeared to be going through subject to contract.

There was considerable relief among voluntary groups within the town when the museum obtained an exclusive right to buy what was originally the schoolhouse for a free grammar school granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1573 and which later became part of Barnet College.

The hall, which is a grade II listed building by Historic England, is surplus to the college’s requirement and is on offer on a leasehold basis with vacant possession.

But the Trustees of the Barnet Museum and Local History Society say they are now “bitterly disappointed” to have announce that they cannot proceed with the transaction.

The Barnet Society understands that another offer to buy the hall for £1 million has been made to the college from a similar charity/community group.

When the hall was first put on the market in December 2023, the sales agents Colliers said it had received an offer of £1 million to purchase the building for educational use.

This led Barnet Museum to appeal to Barnet Council to declare the building an asset of community value so as to give the museum a chance to buy the hall for the use of the wider community.

After examining the cost of repairing, staffing and maintaining the building, the museum trustees say they have had to face the reality of being unable to find “additional funding within the available timescale”.

There were extensive discussions among the trustees and other interested groups as to how to maintain the Tudor Hall for community use but the stumbling block was the lack of additional finance.

Ambitious ideas included the possibility of the hall becoming a dedicated museum for the Wars of the Roses — centred on the town being the site of the 1471 Battle of Barnet — but the estimates were that a full refurbishment might cost up to £500,000.

The hall’s main room – see above – has on occasion been used for public events, but ongoing cost of simply maintaining the hall and keeping it available for public use was likely to be in the regional of £50,000 a year.

In their statement the museum trustees – John Hall, Scott Harrison and Guy Wheatcroft – say they have informed the college they cannot proceed with the transaction.

A feasibility study – which included a visit to what was the dormitory of the former schoolhouse – provided a “careful estimate” of further costs for repair, repurposing, staff and maintenance.

“Our attempt to source additional funding within the available timescale has shown the difficulties facing the heritage sector at this time, and the museum as a charity is not in a position to take on this burden of risk.

“The outcome if of course bitterly disappointing since the availability of such funding would have supported the opening of Tudor Hall to the community as a ‘Tudor Jewel’.

“We are very grateful to all those who have worked extremely hard to investigate Tudor Hall and prepare the feasibility study with such care and professionalism, and especially to the Hadley Trust for its generous offer to fund the purchase, subject to the condition of viability which sadly it has not been possible to satisfy.

“May we also extend our sincere thanks to those who participated in the public consultation meetings or volunteered help in many ways to support this important community initiative.”