The town hall, which was the headquarters of Hitchin Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building.

[2][3] [a] After population growth in the late 19th century, partly associated with the straw plaiting and lavender growing industries, the area became an urban district in 1894.

[5] In this context, the new civic leaders decided that the existing town hall was inadequate and that they would procure a new structure: the site chosen, on the opposite side of Brand Street, was occupied by William Jelly's tin plate workshop.

[2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto the Brand Street; the central bay, which slightly projected forward, featured an arched doorway with a large keystone on the ground floor and mullioned windows on the first floor flanked by full-height pilasters supporting a modillioned pediment with the town's coat of arms in the tympanum.

[7] The suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, visited the town hall and made a speech supporting women's suffrage in March 1907,[8] while performers hosting concerts included the Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers in May 1973.