Artist's Impression (by the architects Samuel Taylor Son and Platt) of the premises after conversion.
Burnley is to get a new attraction at Towneley Hall. Work has begun this week on converting the family brewhouse, adjoining the hall, into a local crafts museum. Not long ago the building, old and disused, was in danger of collapse. Now it is being prepared for its new role following the Towneley Hall Society's acceptance of a local tender for Phase two of the task of conversion which consists of interior structural work necessary to adapt the old building to its new use. Mr. K. Nightingale chairman of the society said "Apart from the obvious attractions of the museum itself, we feel we have helped to save a pleasant old stone building which was worth saving as an example of its period".
For some time now, the society and Mr. H. C. Thornton (the curator of Towneley Hall) have been accumulating a considerable stock of items for exhibition. It is proposed to devote the first and biggest room, to a display of local shops including a clogger's shop with all its equipment; a blacksmith's shop, with items preserved from the old Cliviger forge, and a re-creation of the "Big Wheel" tea shop from St. James's Street - window wheel and all. In another room it is hoped to re-create an old pub bar and a textile section. A section will be devoted to the early products of firms which have since developed into Burnley's modern industry.