{"id":447559,"date":"2025-09-24T05:07:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/447559\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T05:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:07:24","slug":"new-tenant-wanted-for-landmark-stately-home-where-hundreds-said-i-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/447559\/","title":{"rendered":"New tenant wanted for landmark stately home where hundreds said ‘I do’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hunt is on for a new tenant to occupy one of Birmingham<\/a> \u2019s most important stately homes after restoration plans stalled.<\/p>\n

Majestic Highbury Hall in Moseley<\/a> was once the home of Joseph Chamberlain, who was elected Mayor of Birmingham around 150 years ago.<\/p>\n

He was credited with making Birmingham \u2018the best governed city in the world\u2019 as mayor and oversaw massive changes, building amenities such as swimming pools and libraries.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/b>Major Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery full reopening update revealed<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The reforming leader was also the father of former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Austen Chamberlain, who became chancellor of the exchequer.<\/p>\n

Hopes the mansion could be transformed into a visitor attraction were dealt a blow in 2024 when Labour-run Birmingham City Council<\/a> said it was unable to match fund Highbury\u2019s restoration due to financial restrictions.<\/p>\n

But there was a more encouraging update this year when the Chamberlain Highbury Trust (CHT) was awarded a grant by The National Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the Victorian gardens.<\/p>\n

The chair of the trustees at CHT said recently they were going to \u201clook again at how we get the mansion restored\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ahead of a council meeting this week, permission was being sought to market Highbury Hall to find a new tenant amid fears of a vacant building attracting anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside Highbury Hall in 2018 -Credit:Iain Findlay\/Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n

It was recently established that the council could no longer justify Civic Catering, which is part of the authority, running a wedding events venue from the mansion and that its occupation of Highbury Hall would have to be terminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis termination will leave Highbury Trust with an issue of a vacant vulnerable building which will deteriorate further and be subject to potential anti-social behaviour,\u201d the report warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, it was requested by the chair of trusts and charities that a tenant be sought for the next three to five years as a meanwhile use ahead of any revised refurbishment programme commencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking at a Trusts and Charities Committee meeting this week, Conservative councillor Adrian Delaney said a historic building in his own ward had suffered vandalism, resulting in costly repairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about Highbury and how historically significant that is, we certainly don\u2019t want to be in that position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/b>Birmingham BOXPARK plans for historic archway no longer going ahead<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to re-market [Highbury Hall] and we don\u2019t get anybody, what do we do then?<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we going to secure the building? What are we going to do to protect that asset?\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour councillor Phil Davis, chair of the committee, said the management of the hall was a \u201cpriority\u201d and something they needed to address to meet the conditions of the lottery grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll keep the committee closely informed on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we do need to make sure that, as the clock is ticking [with] Civic Catering leaving, we\u2019ve done all we can to make sure we fill the gap there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we\u2019ll return to that in terms of long-term progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee agreed to spend \u00a310,000 to market Highbury Hall in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\u2018There will be international interest\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking at a previous Trusts and Charities Committee this year, David Kidney, chair of the trustees at CHT, was optimistic about the future of the historic Birmingham mansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the restoration, as we plan it, goes ahead, I think what we\u2019ll have on our hands as a city is a hugely significant hub for community activities in its immediate area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s covering the wards of Kings Heath<\/a>, Moseley and Stirchley<\/a>. But also something of value to the whole of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Kidney said developing it as a visitor attraction could attract interest from across the city and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven Joseph Chamberlain\u2019s links with national and international politics, I believe there will be international interest,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we do have an asset that\u2019s potentially hugely significant and valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Highbury<\/p>\n

Highbury Hall in 2018 -Credit:Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n

He added at the time: \u201cWe propose while we\u2019re doing the works in the garden, to start again on an application to the [The National Heritage Lottery Fund] for a significant grant from them towards the cost of restoring the mansion next.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that will mean a new application and more fundraising from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

On being unable to match-fund restoration plans last year, a council spokesperson said at the time: \u201cBirmingham City Council is currently not in a position to provide the match funding sought to secure the wider funding package and deliver the scheme of works as originally proposed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hunt is on for a new tenant to occupy one of Birmingham \u2019s most important stately homes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[150790,855,984,748,150793,150796,393,4884,150789,150795,150788,150791,150792,16,15,150794],"class_list":{"0":"post-447559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-austen-chamberlain","9":"tag-birmingham","10":"tag-birmingham-city-council","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-chamberlain-highbury-trust","13":"tag-david-kidney","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-highbury-hall","17":"tag-highbury-trust","18":"tag-joseph-chamberlain","19":"tag-national-heritage-lottery-fund","20":"tag-neville-chamberlain","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-visitor-attraction"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115257543769909251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}