Following significant population growth, largely associated with its status as a seaside resort, the town appointed a local board in 1850.

[6][7][8][9] In the late 1950s, the council redeveloped the site,[10] replacing the old house with a modern structure, to be known as the Town Hall, which retained elements of the old design, e.g. the bi-partite Italianate windows, and which was completed in around 1960.

The right-hand section featured a doorway with an architrave flanked by casement windows and protected by a semi-circular canopy supported by columns.

[12] The building ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged East Devon District Council was formed at Sidmouth in 1974.

[15] A plaque commemorating the life of Sub-lieutenant Reginald Warneford, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for air-bombing a Zeppelin during the First World War, was fixed to the wall of the town hall in 1999.