ALTON Assembly Rooms quest to re-establish its place as a focal point for the local community has come a step closer. An agreement has been taken by Alton Town Council's recreation committee to appoint local architect Nick Carey-Thomas to draw up plans, should the decision be taken in January to undertake a major refurbishment of the main hall. Should the project go ahead the refurbishment will coincide with electrical and fire safety improvements to be undertaken in July/ August 2007, and would necessitate a temporary closure of the building. The disruption and a desire to attract more people to use the facility has resulted in a price freeze for the year 2007/08. Preliminary investigations have indicated that the fire and electrical work will cost in the region of £20,000, while the refurbishment would cost an additional £40,000. It was decided also to look at the installation of removable tiered seating in the main hall, at a cost of around £30,000 and to install a stairlift, to make the upper rooms more accessible, at a cost of around £7,500. The stairlift money would be funded from developers' contributions. In a report to December's ATC recreation committee meeting, Dean Phillips said that since taking on the role of marketing manager eight months ago he was more convinced than ever of Alton Assembly Rooms' role as a place for the public to meet and socialise at the heart of the town. Bookings had increased and a users' survey had confirmed that people were pleased with how the facility had improved. Work on the refurbishment of the rear changing rooms was well under way and there was interest from a potential partner, who would be willing to fit out and run a cafe bar in the lower room. The majority of lower room bookings would be accommodated in the upper room instead. Councillors also agreed to the future replacement of the hoarding at the rear of the building, to be replaced in time by an iron gate, similar to the gates to the Public Gardens, at a cost of between £1,850 and £2,250. This would improve pedestrian flow between the Manor car park and the Assembly Rooms and improve customer parking, with two spaces allocated to each room hirer. In addition, an application had been made to East Hampshire District Council for a variation to the existing entertainment licence to permit the sale of alcohol on the premises and Dean Phillips had applied for a personal licence, so that he can act as designated premises supervisor. While general opinion was that an improved frontage would help "sell" the Assembly Rooms to potential users, Mr Phillips was of the opinion that the building's best asset was its dance floor. "The dance floor is this building's unique selling point," said Mr Phillips adding that dance group bookings were definitely on the up. He was keen also to increase conference package bookings, with a basic package of £500 for use of the large hall and £300 for the upper hall. Having imposed a 15 per cent increase in room hire at the Assembly Rooms for the current year (2006/07) to cover VAT, due to the expected disruption in the summer to accommodate refurbishment work, recreation committee members accepted a recommendation by the working party to freeze charges for 2007/08. In expanding on the reasons behind this recommendation, Dean Phillips told councillors that there had been 'rumblings' over this year's increase and that, bearing in mind the strong competition presented by neighbouring facilities, all of which would probably seek hire increases in the coming year, and the inconvenience of a proposed refurbishment, a price freeze would help make the Assembly Rooms more attractive to customers. A suggestion that any price increase could be delayed until the refurbishment had been completed, was shot down by town clerk Steve Parkinson, who felt the Assembly Rooms would need a six to seven month-period to rebuild its customer base after the refurbishment and to encourage new business. "People are already concerned that the prices will increase after the refit so we need to reassure them that the improved facilities are worth it," added Mr Phillips.
