Welfare Hall

The Welfare Hall is a Baroque-style building, constructed in red brick with pale stone dressings. The sides and rear are rendered, and it features a Welsh slate roof with terracotta ridge tiles. This large rectangular hall is two storeys high with a pitched roof and a basement.

The symmetrical five-bay front is accentuated by deeply channelled pilasters and quoins that support a heavy cornice with billet moulding and a parapet above. The central bay has an open billet-moulded pediment and a high oculus with a decorative surround, along with a two-light square-headed window above a large relief inscription band. This is positioned over a wide segmental-headed entrance doorway, which has deep channelled quoins, a bracket keystone, and recessed doors. The flanking bays on each side feature long staircase windows and square-headed ground floor windows, both with architraves and keystones at the ground floor. Narrow bays on either side include a high keyed oculus and a small staircase window above a side doorway, which has deep channelled voussoirs. All doors are panelled below and glazed above, with billet moulding on the central set of double swing doors that include some coloured glass, protected by external metal gates. Most window glazing has been renewed, although some multipane windows still survive on the sides and rear. The frontage has a return bay on each side.

Behind the frontage pediment is a second pediment with a datestone from 1993, which records restoration and the provision of a fire escape for the projection room. The fire escape gallery is located outside on the left and at first floor level on the right. Decorative metal railings and gates are present on the sides.

The basement retains a suite of rooms for various activities, with some decorative terrazzo flooring. The hall features a curved raked gallery at the rear, which still holds cinema seating. A wide rectangular proscenium arch is plain except for fluting, and there are numerous decorative moulded plaster panels on the gallery front, ceiling ventilators, and the side and rear walls. The segmentally arched ceiling is divided into narrow bays by moulded ribs.