Skip to content

Repair funding of £249k secured for former library

Clare Wordenin King's Lynn
Richard Jarmy Photography External view of old Carnegie library in King's Lynn. It is made up of a three-storey corner entrance tower with asymmetric wings, built from dark, brownish-orange carstone blocks and bright red terracotta dressings. The castle-like layout is detailed with stepped buttresses and large Gothic-style windows.Richard Jarmy Photography
Even though it has been open for six months, the venue manager said they still regularly get visitors expecting to take a book out

The trust that has taken over a Grade II listed former library after a High Court battle has been awarded £249,000 to help with its transition.

The Garage Trust took over the Carnegie Building in King's Lynn, Norfolk, in April 2026 and is transforming it into a performing arts venue.

It is now called The Workshop King's Lynn and has already hosted community arts events and professional performances.

The money from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be spent on repairing the roof and restoring the floors.

Megan Fox In the foreground you can see rows of people sitting looking at the stage. On it brightly lit are a group of performers wearing period costumes. Megan Fox
The former library space has been transformed into a stage and has already hosted professional and amateur performances

The Norwich-based arts charity has had a temporary home in the town since 2019.

Venue manager Megan Fox said they had already held five performances in the venue with audiences of 120 people.

"Being able to get into this space as a proper theatre space with all of the lights, all of the set pieces, the performers were just ecstatic," she said.

Fox said the group will be "taking its time" to develop the building and their services in line with what local people want.

Clare Worden/BBC Adam Taylor stands in front of a pine bookcase. In the middle of it is a stone shelf which the bookcase has been placed in front of to conceal. Adam is wearing a navy wool jacket and pink shirt. Clare Worden/BBC
Adam Taylor from the Garage Trust, which runs the Workshop, said original features like the stone shelving have been uncovered since the library closed

The Garage Trust purchased the building, which opened in 1905, from Norfolk County Council in January 2025.

The sale was the subject of a legal challenge, which ruled that the sale was not unfair.

The town's new library opened in March in a refitted former Argos store after work costing about £17m.

More from Norfolk

Garage Trust chief executive Adam Taylor said the team had uncovered original parquet flooring and stone shelving during the transformation from library to theatre.

He said they were relieved not to have found any sign yet of the Greyfriars ghost, a Franciscan friar who is said to haunt the library and nearby Greyfriars Tower.

"The next six months will see us undertake a programme of repair and renewal; a large amount of that capital work will happen quite quickly," he said.

Taylor said: "Whilst the sum of money is vast when it comes to old buildings, it doesn't go particularly far, so we are carefully considering the work that needs doing as a priority."

Clare Worden/BBC Xenoula Eleftheriades has shoulder-length brown hair and is wearing a purple jumper. She is smiling at the camera. She is standing in a garden surrounded by green leaves. Clare Worden/BBC
Xenoula Eleftheriades has been running music and dance workshops out of the new venue in King's Lynn

Xenoula Eleftheriades is the artistic director of Xen Arts, which has been running dance and singing groups out of the new venue.

She said: "I think it's really important, especially in King's Lynn, because it seems that they haven't had as much access to the arts and to venues as other places in Norfolk."

Do you have a story suggestion for Norfolk? Contact us below.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links