[2] The local board of health, which was established in November 1852, used the town's room as its regular meeting place.

[5] It was designed in the Italianate style, built in brown brick at a cost of £7,000 and was officially opened by the diplomat John Savile, of Rufford Abbey, on 19 September 1888.

[1] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto the corner of Southgate and Huddersfield Road; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured a flight of steps leading up to a pair of round headed doorways with keystones flanked by pairs of full-height Corinthian order pilasters supporting an entablature and a modillioned pediment with a coat of arms in the tympanum.

[10][12] It then operated for as a bingo hall until 1977 and subsequently as a snooker club,[10] but had to be fully restored after being badly damaged in a fire in November 1994.

[10] Meanwhile, the ground floor on the Southgate side of the building, which operated as a row of shops for much of the 20th century, has more recently been fitted out for restaurant use.