[1] It was designed by Alexander Tate in the Gothic Revival style, built Stewart & Company of Belfast in rubble masonry at a cost of £5,500 and was officially opened on 25 August 1870.

[1] The left hand section featured six tall arched traceried windows on a single floor, while the right hand section was slightly set back and featured tall arched traceried windows on two floors.

[5] It also became a significant events venue and performers included the singer, Bridie Gallagher, in 1949,[6] but it ceased to be the local seat of government when the council relocated to the Sir Thomas Dixon Buildings in the early 1960s.

[3][8] After particularly bad winter storms in March 2013, the Prince of Wales visited the town hall in June 2013 and met with members of the farming community who had been adversely affected by the extreme weather.

[9] In June 2020, Amnesty International asked for the McGarel Hall to be renamed on the basis that, as a young man, McGarel had owned at least 1,000 slaves at a sugar plantation in Demerara in South America, and that part of his wealth had been generated from the compensation he had received for the loss of those slaves.