Save Meeching Hall
Newhaven Town Council has put Meeching Hall up for sale. As an Asset of Community Value, we have a six-month window to make the case that this hall — the only stage in the town and a century-old gathering place — should stay in community hands.
“I wholeheartedly endorse FOMH in their prodigious efforts to safeguard Meeching Hall for the people of Newhaven, and I hope you will support them in their efforts to make sure the historic Meeching Hall is around to serve the community for, at least, another 150 years.”
Sir Peter Field KCVO
Four Threads of Newhaven Community Life
From rehearsing a play to running a residents’ meeting, four broad strands of Newhaven life all flow through the same building. Each thread tells part of the story of why Meeching Hall matters.
The Arts and the Stage
Meeching Hall is the only place in Newhaven with a stage. Local theatre groups including Meeching Amateur Dramatics rehearse here every week and the hall hosts at least five public performances a year.
Health and Wellbeing
Pilates, dance, the Repair Café and other regular wellbeing groups meet at the hall — bringing residents together and keeping them active and connected.
Children, Families and Youth
Sea Cadets meet here every Monday evening. The hall is also a regular venue for family events, children’s groups and intergenerational activities.
Community Life and Local Voices
The Newhaven Green Centre, Alcoholics Anonymous and other groups use the hall as a place to gather, organise and support one another. It is, in every sense, a hall of the community.
One Building, Many Lives
The same hall serves four very different needs — a stage, a community room, a venue to hire, and now a building worth saving. These pages tell you a little about each.
A hall built and used by Newhaven, for Newhaven.
Built for the community, run by the community.
Meeching Hall sits at the heart of Newhaven on Fort Road. It is the only public building in the town with a stage, and the only substantial vintage public building still in community ownership. From regular weekly groups to one-off public events, the hall has served Newhaven for generations.
A Going Concern
The hall is in active, regular use by groups across the community — from theatre and the arts to wellbeing classes, youth groups and residents’ meetings.
A Building Worth Saving
Listed as an Asset of Community Value, the hall is in a six-month moratorium that gives the community time to prepare a bid before any sale completes.
Six reasons this hall matters
From the only stage in town to a quiet room for a residents’ meeting, Meeching Hall does work that nowhere else in Newhaven can.
The only stage in Newhaven
Local theatre groups perform here every year. No other public hall in Newhaven has a stage — losing it would mean losing live performance in the town.
A century of community use
Meeching Hall has served Newhaven for generations as a meeting place, a venue and a stage. The building carries the memory of the town.
Affordable for small groups
Hire rates have always been kept accessible so that small clubs, classes and family events can use the building without barrier.
Owned by the community
The hall is the only substantial vintage public building in Newhaven still in community ownership — and one of very few of its kind on the south coast.
A backstop in hard times
Community halls hold a town together when other venues come and go. Once a hall is sold, it does not come back.
A space for everyone
From toddlers’ groups to older residents, from regulars to one-off bookings — Meeching Hall is a place that genuinely belongs to all of Newhaven.
Common questions
A few of the questions we hear most often about the hall, the sale, and how to help.