Tudor Hall to be kept for community use after successful bid to purchase High Barnet’s “unique heritage asset”

After months of uncertainty a deal has finally been agreed: High Barnet’s historic Tudor Hall in the middle of the Barnet College campus has been saved for community use.

A bid by the trustees of Barnet Museum has been accepted by the board of governors of Barnet and Southgate College.

The sale is subject to contract and the museum, which now has an exclusive right to buy the building, hopes to be able to exchange by mid-April.

There will be widespread relief among organisations in the town which feared the worst when the college put the hall up for sale on the open market in December 2023 with a guide price of £1 million.

Working out how to secure community ownership of what was originally the schoolhouse for a free grammar school granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1573 became a top priority.

Barnet Museum and the Local History Society led the way and at their request the hall was declared an asset of community value by Barnet Council.

This gave the museum six months to try to put together its own bid to save the historic building from going to a commercial purchaser.

Sales agents Colliers had revealed that the college had received an offer close to the asking price from an unnamed “private education provider”.

Prospective funding was promised by the Hadley Trust which enabled an offer to be submitted before the deadline under the rules for assets of community value.

John Hall, chairman of the museum’s trustees, told the Barnet Society that he was confident that subject to satisfactory diligence contracts would be exchanged.

“Both the museum and the college are delighted that the sale has been agreed for the future preservation of this unique heritage asset.

“Steps can now be taken to start drawing up plans for the future use of the hall.

“We can begin to think now as to how best to improve and preserve the structure and re-open it for public use to meet the wishes of the Hadley Trust and the wider High Barnet community.”

Mr Hall said the aim was to make hall available for displays and exhibitions organised by the museum as well as opening up possibilities for a wider community use for events and functions.

One of the driving forces behind the museum’s bid for the hall was that ownership of the building would allow the staging of exhibitions about the Battle of Barnet and the possibility of it becoming a centre for displays about the Wars of the Roses.