THE Herald has been given a sneak peak inside the newly refurbished and extended Farnham Memorial Hall in West Street prior to its grand re-opening later this month.

Farnham’s new £3.27 million health and well-being centre is expected to open in “mid to late August”, Waverley Borough Council’s head of community services and major projects Kelvin Mills told the Herald on a recent tour of the building.

The main construction phase is now complete, having begun in September 2016, and all that remains is to install the hall’s lighting and finish decorating its interior.

Once complete, the revamped hall - built by Farnham United Breweries in 1921 in memory of its five employees who lost their lives during the First World War - will provide a new home for the Brightwells Gostrey Centre for older people and Waverley Training Services, as well as incorporating its previous uses.

Waverley’s appointed contractors, Armfield Construction, had hoped to complete the £3.27m project in September 2017. This was delayed, however, following a dispute with its cladding supplier, amid spiralling demand in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

As a result, the hall was not fully weather-proofed when the Beast from the East arrived earlier this year, and Waverley warned the consequent damage would delay the hall’s opening “indefinitely”.

The borough council is now ready to lay these problems to bed however, and its new tenants the Gostrey Centre and Waverley Training Services are already preparing to relocate from their existing premises in Dogflud Way and Kimbers Lane.

The hall now boasts a bright and airy, glass-roofed atrium, providing a striking entrance and reception area, and connecting the old part of the building to the new. On one side of the atrium is a new kitchen and cafe, from where Waverley’s Meals on Wheels service will operate, and opposite is the main hall. This still boasts a sprung dance-floor and stage, but its suspended ceiling has now been removed to reveal the building’s original 1920s wooden beams. Bi-fold doors also run down the length of the hall to create a flexible space.

The health and well-being centre, which will be occupied by the Gostrey Centre daily from 9am to 4pm, is confined to the ground floor, boasting treatment rooms, assisted bathing and even a hairdressing salon.

The upper floor offers numerous rentable activity rooms and a balcony overlooking the Memorial Ground, while the hall’s basement has also been dug out and expanded to accommodate Waverley Training Services’ classrooms.