The structure, which also served as the Town Hall (Welsh: Neuadd y Dref Blaenau Ffestiniog),[1] is a Grade II listed building.

[2] In the mid-19th century, following significant population growth largely associated with the slate quarrying industry, civic officials decided to commission a market hall.

The site they selected, which was at the west end of the town and bordered by the Ffestiniog Railway Line to the south, was donated by Mary Oakley of Plas Tan y Bwlch, whose family were major employers in the local slate quarrying industry.

[2][3][4] When a parliamentary bill to expand the Ffestiniog Railway was being considered by the House of Lords in 1869, a meeting was convened in the market hall at which there were strong objections from local quarry owners on account of the high tolls being charged by the railway company for transporting the slate, the large profits being reported and the high dividends being declared.

[1] In 2000, a local developer, Menter y Moelwyn, submitted plans to convert the structure into a recording studio, bingo hall and theatre but was unable to secure funding.