Cardigan Guildhall

The Rooms

The magnificent main public hall, on the upper floor, was the town venue for public meetings as well as assemblies. Now restored to its original grandeur, with the demolition of a 20th century stage, the Great Hall has taken its place again as a fine venue for meetings and entertainments for the community of Cardigan.

The Radley Room is also well known in Cardigan for its weekly coffee mornings, where local community groups have been known to raise over £700 for local worthy causes. Indeed the tradition of holding fund raising coffee mornings in the Guildhall dates back to 1879 when a local pillar of the Temperance movement, Miss Probert, in an attempt to counter the heavy drinking in town, set up a coffee stall, which was very well patronised on Saturdays and Fair days with tea or coffee served at 1d a cup and a slice of bread and butter or cake costing an additional 1d. – Little changes! – This tradition has carried on uninterrupted to the present day when over 50 volunteer groups and societies book over two years ahead for these Saturday morning fund raisers.

The Corn Exchange

(now the Corn Exchange Gallery) separated the dry corn from the other market goods, and the provision of a corn-store (now Menter Aberteifi offices) ensured that it remained dry. This photograph shows the original Corn Exchange doors, glazed in the recent restoration, but reflecting the original design of the door frames.

On the upper floor, a room for council-meetings marked the small beginnings of public administration, (a space now known as The Chamber, where Cardigan Town Council now meets again). Also a reading-room where newspapers might be read, called a news-room, this also served as a meeting room for working-men, or Mechanics Institute.