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Town Hall, Loughrea, Co. Galway
The building was built in 1862 for the
Marquess of Clanricarde. In 1928, it was donated to the townspeople by Lord
Lascelles
accompanied by her Royal Highness, Princess Mary in a ceremony in Portumna.
The hall was opened for dancing on January
31st, 1932 to the sounds of the Peter Keogh Band from Dublin. The hall would be
the main dance venue in the town for many
years, and was used by almost every organisation to hold their annual and club
dances. In the late 1950s, the hall was still
going strong but featured mostly regional bands like the Arabian Dance Orchestra
(Galway), Swingtime Aces (Athenry), and
others. Also in 1958, there was a controversy when the stage was removed after a
renovation and the Town Hall
stopped allowing Ceili dancing claiming it would damage the old structure.
When the Temperance Hall opened in the town in the 1959, the Town Hall was
relegated to running the smaller dances
and was never really a venue for the big showbands of the day, although they did
have the Capitol, Premier Aces, Cordettes and several
others early on. Throughout 1970s the hall would remain second fiddle to the
Temperance Hall for major showband gigs.
It would still be used as the town's main cinema during much of this time until the late 1980's when it was closed.
Although empty since then, there are local efforts to save the hall and return
it to use for the arts.
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