Hallstile Bank's Former Ex-Service Club Sold for Restoration After Year-Long Closure

One of Hexham's most stubborn eyesores looks set to be put right. The former Hexham and District Ex-Service Club at 1 Hallstile Bank has been sold to a local firm, Auld Joe's Ltd, which plans a programme of repairs to restore the building and bring it back into use.

For anyone who has walked up the steep bank towards the Abbey over the past year, the significance is hard to miss. The road has been closed to traffic since the club's chimney stack collapsed in the summer of 2025, damaging neighbouring roofs and forcing a lengthy safety cordon that has hung over this corner of the old town ever since.

A year of disruption

The collapse did more than block a street. It displaced established businesses that had traded here for years. Bob's Barbers has since relocated permanently to St Mary's Chare, while the Minerva Centre, a base for the local community for around fifteen years, moved out to new premises on Burn Lane. The former club itself, whose operating company went into liquidation, sat empty and deteriorating while the wider legal and safety questions were untangled.

Repairs beginning

Under its new owner, that limbo is ending. Repair work to safely dismantle the suspended chimney and secure the roof structure is due to begin, opening the way to reopening Hallstile Bank and lifting the shadow that has sat over neighbouring trade. For a small, tightly knit part of Hexham that runs on passing footfall between the market place and the Abbey, a route back to normal cannot come soon enough.

Best for: Auld Joe's Ltd has said it is committed to giving the building a new lease of life while respecting its history and its place within the community.

The building's long-term use has not been spelled out in detail, but the intention is clearly restoration rather than demolition, a welcome outcome for a spot that sits within the town's conservation area and in full view of one of Hexham's most photographed streets.

---

Read the original coverage in the Hexham Courant. Spotted a local story we should cover? Get in touch.