Newcastle City Council agrees to take ownership of Neville Hall, with North East Museums to run the building and its mining engineering archive
Newcastle City Council has agreed to take ownership of Neville Hall and its mining engineering archive, with North East Museums set to run the building from autumn 2026.
The Cabinet agreed the recommendation on 20 July. The decision is subject to a five-day call-in period, during which it can be put on hold and scrutinised before being implemented.
The building on Westgate Road opened in 1872 as the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. It and its collection faced an uncertain future after The Common Room of the Great North, the charity that runs it, experienced financial difficulties caused in part by lockdown.
Cabinet member for culture, communities and youth services, Cllr Rob Austin, said: “It is important for the heritage of our region that the building and collection are safeguarded for the future. Unfortunately, the running of the building and servicing the debt has outstripped the charity’s ability to generate income so we have stepped in to save it.”
North East Museums manages 12 cultural venues, including the Great North Museum: Hancock, Discovery Museum and the Laing Art Gallery, and attracts over 800,000 visits a year.
It will open Neville Hall for special events days, weddings, musical performances and conferences, with the aim of making the building self-sustaining. The building received a £4.1 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2018.
It is expected that North East Museums will begin management of Neville Hall in autumn 2026.
Keith Merrin, director of North East Museums, called the building “a fantastic space for special events, meetings and conferences which will be a major part of its future use.”
North East Museums, which also manages Tyne & Wear Archives, will oversee stewardship of the mining engineering archive. The archive includes early scientific and technical reports on the development of the coal industry and associated mechanical engineering, particularly early work on safety in mines.
