A bid by Barnet Museum to purchase the vacant Tudor Hall has now been "positively received" by Barnet and Southgate College.

After confirmation of prospective funding by the Hadley Trust, the museum has submitted an offer to purchase the former schoolhouse which is now being considered by the college’s board of governors.

Earlier this year, at the request of Barnet Museum and Local History, the hall was a declared an asset of community value by Barnet Council to prevent it being sold on the open market.

This gave the museum six months to put together its own bid to save the historic building from going to a commercial purchaser.

John Hall, chairman of the trustees, told the museum’s annual meeting that their success in obtaining possible funding had presented the opportunity to ensure that High Barnet will be able to have available for community use what was originally the schoolhouse for the free grammar school granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1573.

Mr Hall – seen above (centre) with the museum’s curator Mike Noronha (far left) and Scott Harrison (far right), chair of the Tudor Hall steering group – said the aim would be to use it for displays, exhibitions and community use.

Barnet College put Tudor Hall up for sale in December 2023 with a guide price of around £1million and, within a matter of weeks, sales agents Colliers revealed that the college had received an offer close to the asking price from a “private education provider”.

This prompted the museum to ask the council for an order placing a moratorium on the hall’s sale for six months and in September they received a generous offer of prospective funding from the Hadley Trust.

“We are now in a position where we are negotiating over a subject to contract offer. It has not yet been accepted by the college and is dependent on the college board of governors giving their approval and due diligence on our part.

“Our aim is to have the hall available for community use and made available for events and functions alongside displays and exhibitions by the museum.

“We are now giving careful consideration to its potential use and clearly it opens up the possibility of staging exhibitions about the Battle of Barnet and perhaps becoming a centre for displays about the Wars of the Roses.”

Mr Hall acknowledged that there would be a need for additional support and resources to complement the work of volunteers in supporting activities at the museum coupled with their care of Barnet’s historic physic well.