This iconic listed building in Waterloo Street was designed by Hans Price and has been the office of Weston Mercury and North Somerset Times for many years. The building when up for sale in May last year as the company is relocating in Weston.
Weston Town Council is now going to buy this building for its headquarters, community use and an information centre for both visitors and residents. This means that the iconic Mercury Building, which has been closed to the public since May, can be reopened and not risk becoming derelict whilst waiting for a buyer.
The Town Council has been expanding over recent years taking on services like the Weston Museum, Ellenborough Park and public toilets all of which would otherwise have been closed to the public. Their offices are currently split between Grove House, Grove Lodge and Milton Cemetery and there isn’t enough office space for staff and no adequate meeting rooms.
The visitor information centre at the Tropicana building is not going to be available in 2022 so it will be relocated at the Mercury building to provide information to both visitors and local residents, whilst having a satellite visitor information centre at the Water Park on the seafront as well as mobile information centres from the two Tuk Tuks.
The Mercury building gives the Town Council to have room for all of its staff to be housed together, the Information Centre at the front and community meeting space all in the same building. In coming years improvements will be made to its environmental performance, accessibility and the historic front façade cleaned.
Town clerk Malcolm Nicholson said ‘The Mercury Building is a beautiful Victorian building designed by famous architect Hans Price and has served the local community for over a hundred years as the base of the town’s local paper. We were sorry to hear that it was being vacated, risking it lying empty and deteriorating and it’s great that a deal has been done which will mean that it will be saved and reopened to the public for town council and community use.’