Hall for Cornwall
Hall for Cornwall is an events venue in Truro, Cornwall. It sits on Boscawen Street and is a Grade II* listed building. It was called Truro City Hall until 1997.
The site has hosted town buildings since the 17th century. In the early 1840s a new Italianate building was designed by Christopher Eales and completed in 1846. It was built in granite with a five-bay front on Boscawen Street. The ground floor was arcaded, and the first floor had sash windows with pediments. Inside, the north end housed the council offices, including a courtroom and council chamber; the south end was the market hall.
A clock was added in 1854, and a clocktower in 1858. In 1877 Truro became a city and the complex was renamed Truro City Hall. In the early 20th century the rear market hall opened to the public, becoming a skating rink in 1907 and then a cinema in 1912. In 1914 a fire damaged the building, and a new clock and four bells were later installed.
In 1925 the market hall was turned into a theatre. It later became a flea market in the 1970s. The rock band Queen played its first live concert there on 27 June 1970. After Carrick District Council was formed in 1974, the building stopped being the local government’s headquarters.
After a major refurbishment in the mid-1990s, the rear market hall reopened as Hall for Cornwall on 15 November 1997. In 2008 a new Barabas play was staged. In 2012 it joined Cornwall’s National Theatre project. From 2018 to 2021, Kier Group carried out a £20 million refurbishment to create a new central auditorium called The Cornwall Playhouse, increasing seating from 965 to 1,354 and moving the main access to Boscawen Street. The venue kept the name Hall for Cornwall, and the new auditorium opened in 2021.
Work on the clock tower followed in 2022–2023, with the clock and bells removed, the tower rebuilt, and the bells and clock returned in 2023.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:59 (CET).