Paisley’s artist and playwright, John Byrne, will be honoured in the new room names for his birthplace’s soon-to-be-transformed town hall.
When the A-listed Victorian building reopens next year after a £22m refurbishment, new and existing rooms will carry names inspired by John’s play Cuttin’ a Rug, set in the town hall.
The other meeting and conference rooms will be known as Skinnedar Suite, McCann Room, Stobo Room, and Jacquard Suite.
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Lucille, Skinnedar, McCann and Stobo are all names of characters from Cuttin’ a Rug – set during a works night out in the town hall and part of John Byrne’s acclaimed Slab Boys trilogy, based on his own experiences of working in Stoddard’s carpet factory in Elderslie as a young man.
Provost Cameron – who earlier this year awarded the Freedom of Renfrewshire to John - said: “Paisley Town Hall is a special place for all Buddies, and each of us will have our own links to and memories of it.
“The work happening now will keep this beautiful building at heart of local life and preserve its much-loved architectural features, but with new facilities allowing it to host bigger and better events and more uses, bringing new life and footfall into the town, day, and night.
“I want to thank everyone who helped contribute to the process of renaming the rooms, as there were loads of great ideas, but we were able to boil it down to two.
“Paisley has always been home to great cultural innovators – and John Byrne is one of the best. It is fitting that in the year he is awarded the Freedom of Renfrewshire that we can ensure one of his best-loved works, Cuttin’ a Rug, is permanently marked in the building in which it is set.”
The town hall work is being taken forward by Renfrewshire Council as part of a wider investment in the town’s cultural venues, including the transformation of Paisley Museum into a world-class venue, and the work to build a new home for library services in a once-empty High Street unit.
When it reopens in 2023, the town hall will be operated by OneRen and will be bookable for a range of large and small events.
For more info, call 0300 300 1210 or email OneRen_eventhires@renfrewshire.gov.uk.
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