The Grand Pavilion in Matlock Bath was built in 1910 for

tourists, who used to arrive on excursion trains from all over

England and move around the area by horse drawn carriage.

Located in the beautiful Derwent valley, Matlock Bath today

is a surprising village — just 850 residents scattered over the

hillside, but with an impressive amount of shops, restau-

rants and tourist attractions.

Matlock Bath and the river Derwent have been described by

poets such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, John Betjeman,

Erasmus Darwin, John Gisborne, William Sampson, Anna

Seward and William Smedley. Writer Nathanial Hawthorne

sums it up nicely in his 1908 statement “I have never seen

anywhere else such exquisite scenery as surrounds this

village of Matlock”.

Today’s village is vibrant, lively and colourful. Our visitors are

mainly families visiting the attractions such as Gulliver’s

Kingdom, The Heights of Abraham, The Peak District Lead

mining Museum, the aquarium, trying the fish and chip res-

taurants, pubs and eateries or walking along the promenade

by the river.

Matlock Bath is a spa village and the famous fishpond,

across the road from the equally famous Fishpond bar and

restaurant, contains koi carp swimming in naturally heated

water all year round.

Opposite the Fishpond is Matlock Bath’s biggest building,

The Grand Pavilion, which we think is the biggest invisible

building in the world!

Downstairs at The Grand Pavilion is the very successful

award-winning Peak District Lead Mining Museum with its

climbing tunnels and fun exhibits for children.

However upstairs at The Grand Pavilion is a different story.

In its recent past it was used as a nightclub and then closed

for a few years. It was left in quite a state, with the fixtures

and fittings of a nightclub (never seen at its best during day-

light), glasses of beer remains and very sticky floors and

carpets.

At that time the building was owned by the local district

council, and the cost of refurbishing it seemed huge — the

decision was made to dispose of the building when a

leaseholder could not be found.

The local parish council were told of the possible disposal

of the building and made the proposal public, to see what

the community wanted. In a very lively public meeting in

January 2010 the overwhelming reaction was ‘they can’t

sell our pavilion’.

The result was the Save The Pavilion Group chaired by

Gregor Macgregor, which, after much hard work, was

awarded a three-year lease to run the building.

Within a year or so some key decisions were made:

To set up a charity to provide security for the building’s

future and preserve it for the community — the charity is

called The Grand Pavilion Ltd

To open and use the building in its current state — the

building has been clean and safe enough to open since

April 2012

To buy the building from the council — The Grand Pavil-

ion has owned the building since August 2013

By 2012 the building was open for its first public event, a

free art exhibition with 2000 people attending. A photog-

raphy exhibition followed, with 3000 visitors.

As The Grand Pavilion Ltd realised the potential of the

building we became more ambitious. A strategy was drawn

up, based on:

Letting the building’s rooms to different groups of users

depending on the stage of renovation

Organising and putting on live music events to raise

funds from ticket and bar sales

Creating an Operations Group of local professional peo-

ple with the skills required to run the building profitably

Seeking funding for whole-building renovation, from the

various lottery and other funding bodies

The charity has been successful in implementing this strat-

egy and has made a significant impact on the way the

building looks inside. There is a lot to do and part of our

strategy has been how to decide what to do next, to gain

the most benefit. The main drivers of building work are

events. Once we have an event booked, we look at what

building changes are necessary to accommodate the

event — and prioritise those.

The other way we look at changes is to pick those which

will make the most difference. We had some help from Rolls-

Royce, who created a ‘development calculator’. This lets us

see, quickly and easily, how much it will cost to change the

decorative state of any room or space, so that we can let it to

different user groups.

And finally we look at what our volunteer working parties can

achieve easily. For example they are very good for clearance,

demolishing features not longer required, decorating and mi-

nor repairs.

In 2013 we put on around eight events from steampunk mar-

kets and private parties to a sell-out concert for Half Man

Half Biscuit. It was good to see the building full and no-one

seemed to mind that the floors were slightly grubby.

In 2014 there will be over 35 events, so we have come a

long way, and — as we mentioned before — we have also be-

come a lot more ambitious.

Until we gain funding for full

renovation we are going to remain ‘a little bit scruffy’.

We rely on you, our visitor, to help support our vision by

spending your money and enjoying our events. Thank you!

Little bit scruffy

Fun in the crawling spaces at The Peak

District Lead Mining Museum

The main hall on the day we got the keys

An Edwardian building under rescue by the local community,

operated by a charity. Help us repair, maintain, preserve and restore

this amazing building - and enjoy our events at the same time!

“When Nature had completed

Switzerland, there was left one

beautiful fragment for which she had

no further use in that country; so she

set it in Derbyshire, amid a framework

of romantic hills, and in time it came

to be called the Gem of the Peak: that

gem is Matlock.” Spencer Hall 1863

Early 2012—the windows blacked out with

steel nightclub platforms left and right

Early 2014, steel platforms removed and light

pouring in from the uncovered windows

Our vision: A beautifully restored

theatre, venue and community space

at the Grand Pavilion in Matlock Bath,

creating pride within Derbyshire Dales

Joining The Friends of The Grand Pavilion Group means:

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Matched funding

Helping our charity

Discounts on events

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JOIN for £10

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