Harrold Centre
The Harrold Centre sits at the centre of the village of Harrold in North Bedfordshire. Formerly known as the Harrold Institute, the original building was opened in 1902 and the main hall added in 1911. The village of Harrold has a long association with the leather industry and The Institute, as it was then, was built by a local philanthropist and leather factory owner Charles Pettit . The building was to be a place for everyone, for recreation and to enable the men of the village to learn new ideas and skills and that original purpose continues, in an updated form, to this day. As a tribute to its origins, the Centre hosts a small permanent exhibition of historic leather artefacts borrowed from the National Leather Collection.
The Harrold Centre has permanent snooker room hosting the Harrold Snooker Club, and also possesses land around, encompassing a children’s play area, a car park incorporating a bottle bank/recycling area, and two tennis courts leased long-term to the Harrold Tennis Club.
After some years of decline, in the early 1970s a new trust was set up to manage and improve the facilities. More recently the trust undertook an wide-ranging expansion and refurbishment which was completed in 2017. The Harrold Centre, the centre of village community life, now offers extensive, modern facilities and hosts many local groups including dance groups, toddler groups, amateur dramatics, keep fit, film nights and many others, as well as hosting private parties and celebrations. In addition, the Centre underpins the annual Harrold Pit run, a fun run raising funds for local organisations.
Sadly the Centre has been more or less closed since April 2020 due to the pandemic and like every Village Hall we hope to be able to resume our full range of activities as soon as is safely possible.