A monumental moment for the Drayton Civic Society and Joules Brewery, as the charity signed a 50-year lease agreement to take on the bespoke built ground floor space at the Stag at the Brewery. Following 18 months of discussions, this new partnership will see the civic society move its museum and headquarters from Shropshire Street to a purpose-built facility within the new Brewery courtyard. Works at the Stag are due to be completed early Spring this year before the team move over to the Red Lion to complete a light touch refurbishment following on the successful planning application approval earlier this year.

Carole Higgins, Chairman of the Drayton Civic Society, said: “Drayton Civic Society members are enthusiastically in support of this wonderful opportunity to relocate our Museum and create a showpiece for the town given to us by Joules Brewery.   This is a major undertaking for our small charity and signing the Lease is just the first step to achieving the dream.”

It will then be down to the charity to transform the shell into a new space which will be used to bring the story of Market Drayton to life, a spacious and tailor-made exhibition space which will house the many artefacts held by the society.

Carole adds “Imagine an attractive, comfortable modern space in the centre of town.  Something for everyone: walks, talks, crafting and events, town and family history research, meeting people and making friends.  A hub of community for all ages and interests.”

The agreement also allows for the society to being to life Market Drayton’s brewing story and its unique source of mineral water which gave birth to several thriving breweries, the buildings of which are still evident in the town today alongside Joule’s brewery itself which will adjoin the new heritage centre.

Anna Brakel, Joule’s Brewery Development Director, said: “We’ve built the shell of the exhibition space as a donation to the community – as part of our Brewery development, which features our new bespoke purpose-built events space, Stag at the Brewery, and our Flagship Brewery Tap refurbishment at the Red Lion, both of which will be complete by this summer.

The Drayton Civic Society charity signed the 50-year lease to take on the exhibition space earlier this month at a peppercorn rate of £1 per year, they are now in the process of securing grant funding. To celebrate the signing of the lease, Joule’s Brewery will be donating £1,000 to the charity to kick start their fund raising.

As a Grove School graduate, it means a lot to me that we can invest in our hometown. The addition of the museum to our developed brewery courtyard will add another dimension, and of course some prestige for us to be in partnership with the society.

We want to see the society thrive and continue the cultural contribution they make to our town, we hope we can really help to promote the society which in turn will of course shine a light on the brewery, it’s a win-win which is what a good partnership is all about.”

Carole adds: “The next steps are to attract grant funding so we can fit out the space and to do that we need to create professional plans, drawings and costings… it won’t be cheap!  So, as you can see, we are some way off moving… but we are confident that with the help of the whole community and the drive of the Civic Society this vision will become reality.

The Civic Society is a forward-looking group of people who have managed to provide a town museum for Market Drayton for the past 20 years.  For the price of a couple of drinks, you can join us as a member and we are actively looking for new members. Membership is an important source of funding for our work towards a modern museum for Market Drayton. It’s a simple way you can help make this great opportunity into reality. Drayton deserves this! Find out more at draytoncivicsociety.co.uk  

Help is needed and we would love everyone to be involved in this exciting project! You can send your ideas or tell us how you could help us achieve the dream to  draytoncivicsociety@gmail.com“