Dumfries' Loreburn Hall could be put up for sale or rented out

The Loreburn Hall in Dumfries could be put up for sale or rented out in the coming months.

The B-listed building is surplus to requirements and Dumfries and Galloway Council has had no suitable offers for it.

The Electric Theatre Company currently occupies the hall, having previously been given free rent to stage its Big Burns Supper and a series of shows there.

The theatre organisation has requested an extension to the lease until February, 2025. However, its members will be served with a notice to leave by March 31, 2023.

The future of the hall is to be discussed at the council’s communities committee next week.

A report produced for the committee explains that The Electric Theatre Company and The Drill Hall Initiative both approached the council about taking over the hall in a community asset transfer deal.

However, council officers said that these organisations don’t meet the required criteria.

The report continues: “Although surplus, the building has been utilised recently providing storage for NHS equipment, being used as a Covid-19 vaccination centre and to support postal voting in the 2021 elections.

The director of economy and resources is delegated authority to lease the property. However, sales and leases of council property at less than best consideration must have committee approval.

“To date no such request for a lease at market value has been forthcoming and neither has the property been openly marketed.”

Council officers are now recommending that Loreburn Hall is marketed for sale or rent and that offers are invited from interested parties.

The Loreburn Hall is on the register of Common Good property for the Burgh of Dumfries. Therefore, whatever decision is taken by the communities committee next week, the matter will then go before the Dumfries Common Good Fund Sub Committee in early 2023.

Up until last year Loreburn Hall had been lying empty since 2019.

The historic hall, which was built in 1890, was closed by the council in 2008 when DG1 originally opened.

The decision upset many Doonhamers who feared that it would fall into disrepair. And Loreburn Community Council started a campaign to have the building, known to many as the Drill Hall, brought back into use.

Councillors will make a decision on the next steps for Loreburn Hall at the communities committee next Tuesday morning.