History of Alton Maltings
The original Alton Maltings building dates from circa 1850 and served the local brewing community that has recently vanished from the town centre. The Maltings building was left unused and unmaintained, leaving it to fall in to a state of disrepair which meant that towards the end of the last century the survival of the building was at great risk.
In the early 1990's the leadership of a local church, Alton Evangelical Free Church, was invited to acquire the site, their desire to serve the community better with a building that would eventually benefit the whole community.
In 1995 the site was bought and listed building consent as a grade II listed building because of the beams used. Some of these beams were may have been used in the Man of War naval ships of the 17th century!
The design brief was to create a flexible space that would be welcoming, able to support the church with its activities and be a host to the community regardless of the reason that they entered the building.
The result is the fantastic realisation of a dream that took ten years and millions of pounds of funding. Today Alton Maltings offers the only local venue that can cater for performances with 340 seats, conferences as well as hosting events and activities for all ages.
You might think that this is the end of the story. It is not! While the church has done an amazing job to restore a historically relevant feature of the local community, there remains a section of the building that is still in need of renovation. The 'North End', partitioned off from daily use, sits untouched, with original features waiting to be brought back to life.
The community that uses the building is working to realise the dream of completing the transformation of a building that when purchased lay under dirt, rubble and the remnants of years of neglect.
The Alton Maltings Centre Community Interest Company is working to help realise that dream by providing serviced facilities for use by the community, local and national businesses and the public sector.
