THE contract for running Chester’s historic Town Hall has been under scrutiny by councillors.

It was awarded to Chester Racecourse’s Horseradish catering business following a £3m plus refurb.

Culture chief Cllr Stuart Parker (Con) highlighted the reduction in the hire charge for charitable and voluntary bodies.

This had come down to £800 for Friday and Saturday peak time bookings with £544 off peak through the rest of the week compared with the standard commercial fee of £1,250 at all times.

Opposition spokeswoman Cllr Louise Gittins (Lab) was concerned about the prices for community groups and suggested some organisations had perhaps felt they could not afford the fee and had booked another venue.

If the town hall was seen as too expensive, Horseradish would be pricing them out of the venue.

Garden Quarter councillor Bob Rudd (Lab) felt that if the city was looking to move towards becoming UK City of Culture, groups such as Theatre in the Quarter should be encouraged to use venues such as the Town Hall.

Cllr Parker said he appreciated the concerns but pointed out the Town Hall had previously been ‘haemorrhaging money’.

The difference between £500 and £800 was not seen as a phenomenal amount for a successful project.

Culture development manager Mr Clive Roberts told councillors all prices were negotiable and the Town Hall could offer different rates to encourage the community.

This led Cllr Gittins to comment the commercial sector could negotiate down to ‘not much different’ to community price rates.