Newark Town Council agree plans to transform Pickin Room at Newark Town Hall into a bridal suite

Plans to create a bridal suite at the town hall have been approved.

To develop Newark Town Hall’s offer as a wedding venue, a proposal to spend £2,850 furnishing the hall’s Pickin Room was presented to town councillors at a meeting on Wednesday, March 12.

As a bridal suite, the room will be furnished with a sofa, armchair, dressing table, mirrors, and faux fur and sheepskin rugs, proposed to be provided by a Newark-based furniture company.

The Pickin Room is currently a traditional meeting room, used by councillors for pre-group meetings and some community groups — and it was assured that these could either continue in the room just with more comfortable furniture, or take place in the council chamber or committee room.

Dawn Campbell, leader of the council, spoke in favour of the plans and added: “Faux fur and sheepskin rugs are not really my thing — but I’m sure research shows that’s what people want.”

Laurence Goff said: “We’ve got a lot of competition [from other wedding venues], have you done your homework?

“Next year is the 250th anniversary of the town hall, we should sell our venue as the oldest landmark in town — hopefully it will attract people from elsewhere.”

It was confirmed that a number of brides who’d already booked town hall weddings had shown an interest in having a bridal suite at the venue, and just nine or ten bookings would recoup the setting-up costs.

Additionally, hospitality and event sales manager, Kirsty Edwards, explained that having the bridal suite would help make wedding packages at the venue more appealing to couples, as well as providing an opportunity to sell additional items such as prosecco and breakfast hampers.