The Burton Municipal Borough Council was formed in 1878 and initially used the old Town Hall which stood in the Market Place. This building was however, unserviceable and was demolished in 1883, leaving Council meetings to be conducted in the back room of the nearby Angel public house!

In 1891, Lord Burton offered the Saint Paul’s Institute and the Liberal Club buildings to the Borough as a much needed Town Hall. It is shown below with various stages of development around it.

Originally, it was the simply the Saint Paul’s Institute and Liberal Club buildings combined.

A picture used as the subject of a postcard shows the Town Hall around the time of the Civic Offices addition.

The council Civic Offices were added to the ‘Borough Road end’ and opened in 1939, a few months before the outbreak of WWII.

And the large square in front of the building was established, adding greatly to its sense of importance.

Some may even remember the corner shop. I certainly don’t!

King Edward’s Square, now with Lord Burton’s statue in place.

By the 1950s, it was hard to imagine it ever being anything other than a Town Hall.

The Town Hall is still looking proud well over one hundred years later.

Although, having prepared this webpage, it now appears much more like a collection of separate buildings joined together than had ever occurred to me before.

With Lord Burton’s commemorative statue still looking on though now slightly obscured by trees.

The conveyance was completed in 1892, and the Liberal Club rooms were converted into municipal offices, the council chamber occupying a room on the first floor at the top of the staircase. The large hall and other rooms of St. Paul’s Institute continued to be used for public meetings and entertainments. In 1894 Lord Burton paid for an eastwards extension over a bowling green, providing additional offices and on the first floor a new council chamber.

Designed in a Decorated style by the original architect Reginald Churchill, the 1894 addition is of red brick with stone dressings and has much naturalistic stone carving on both the interior and exterior. The oak-panelled council chamber has a ceiling of Jacobean-style plasterwork and stained glass by Burlison and Grylls of London depicting the arms of all Burton’s mayors.

Since 1974 the building has housed East Staffordshire District (later Borough) Council. The present mayor’s parlour on the first floor occupies the east end of the room used as the council chamber between 1892 and 1894; the rest of the room is the office of the chief executive of the present Borough Council.

As the Town Hall became too small for an ever growing town, the adjacent four-story Municipal Buildings were built. The building is brick faced with stone in Art Deco style and was designed by the Borough Surveyor, George Moncur, and was opened in 1939.

Just like all important buildings in the Town, it was proudly adorned with the civic arms.