New Heritage Trust For Historic Stoke Buildings

A new heritage trust has been created to preserve historic at risk buildings in Stoke-on-Trent. The Stoke Sentinel reports that the City Council have set up the charitable trust to ensure that the city’s most admired heritage architecture doesn’t fall into disrepair and decay. 

Council members looked at similar schemes in the region, including the Leek and Moorlands Historic Trust, the Staffordshire Historic Buildings Trust, and a similar scheme in Coventry. 

Councillor James Smith, cabinet member for infrastructure, heritage and development management spoke to the publication about the new initiative. 

 He said: "The trustees could be people from all walks of life – the important thing is that they are experts in heritage. When I was the council's Heritage Champion I met lots of people across the city who were passionate about Stoke-on-Trent's historic sites. This will be an opportunity for them to really influence things and make a difference.”

He added: "We've done some benchmarking with other organisations around the country, including one in Coventry, and settled on the idea of a charitable trust. Once it has been set up, we're hoping that it will accept the gift of a heritage building from the council as its first project.”

The city has some fine examples of 19th and early 20th century architecture, such as the Queen’s Theatre in Burslem. It was originally built as a town hall in 1911, but was repurposed as an entertainment venue shortly afterwards. The building has an impressive frontage featuring a full height portico with three pairs of Corinthian columns. 

The interior of the theatre features a marble staircase in the foyer, and a decorative plasterwork ceiling. The theatre has been closed since 1998, and is in need of refurbishment and repairs.

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