Banbury Library moving to Bridge Street

The move is a blow to Castle Quay after plans to relocate the library there were shelved

Banbury Library is set to move into the old Wilko building on Bridge Street.

The library will leave its current home in Marlborough Road, which Oxfordshire County Council feels is no longer suitable for the delivery of a modern library service.

The news will come as a blow to the Castle Quay Shopping Centre. It had previously been mooted that the first floor of the old Marks and Spencer’s unit could house the library, but the County Council discounted that as an option late last year.

In addition to the library, the new building in Bridge Street would have enough room to offer additional space for other Oxfordshire County Council needs.

The purchase price is not being disclosed but the County Council estimates that these, and fit out and decarbonisation costs, will be offset by revenue savings and income potential over a number of years.

The investment in Banbury Library has been identified as having the highest strategic priority, with the Cherwell area of the county having the highest number of children who do not speak English as their primary language and the town including four areas ranked within the 20 percent most deprived areas nationally.

The current library on Marlborough Road was built around 1884 as a “Mechanics Institute” which included a library. It is a grade II listed building, rented by Oxfordshire County Council, with around 79,000 people listing between 2023 and 2024. Over £100,000 has been spent on reactive maintenance during the last four years and the property has no heating on the top floor where the staff offices are located.