PLANS for Melksham Town Hall to become a licensed wedding venue are moving forward, with a detailed business plan and market research due to be carried out.
At the asset management and amenities meeting on Monday 9th October, councillors heard from the town council’s operations manager that a three-year wedding licence would cost the council £1,900. He also suggested that the council could charge around £3,000 for each wedding package. including the reception.
The town hall was a licensed wedding venue around ten years ago, but councillors took the decision not to renew the licence, as the costs were not being covered.
Cllr Jon Hubbard said, “It sounds like easy money, but I was on this council when we decided not to keep the licence because it went up by about 300% in price and we weren’t even covering the cost of the old licence. It was on the clerk’s advice that we chose not to continue. Although we’ve got the receptions, we didn’t get the weddings. I want to see a sound business case, complete with market research, that demonstrates we can do it. I am not convinced we can do it, I am absolutely not.”
A discussion about using the venue for weddings previously took place by the committee in June, following an enquiry from a member of the public.
During that meeting, councillors supported the idea to use the town hall as a wedding venue, but cllr Graham Ellis raised concerns that this was not what the community want the council to focus on, following research he had carried out with residents about what they would like to see the council prioritise. He did however support the idea on the basis that it wouldn’t have much impact to the council’s costs and funds.
A clear detailed business plan with market research will now be created before the matter comes back to the committee for further discussion.
