Explore the space
Mayor’s Reception Room
This room is designed for meeting, greeting, and impressing guests.
Together, these rooms are the ‘Mayoral Suite’, the place where mayors and councillors conducted the everyday business of the borough.
Without a mayoral invitation, it’s unlikely you would have been allowed in. The room was used for official dinners and was known as The Mayor’s Dining Room. It had a large table that could seat up to 20, which was from The Council Chamber.
The elegant style of the room and its rich decor reflects the role of the mayor. It feels more like a home than a place of work, and the decoration shows how Victorians valued the natural world for its health benefits.
Victorian style and stories
The decoration here was created by the London company Heaton, Butler and Bayne, masters of high class interior design.
There’s loads to see - wall painting, wooden carvings on beams and corbels with stained glass and eccentric carved beasts on the benches and doorways. A heady mix of colours and styles.
Every inch of decoration tells a story – flick through the images to find out what it all means.
Learn more about the beautiful details that surround the walls of the Mayor's Reception Room by clicking on the slideshow below.
The decoration is designed to impress Town Hall guests.