"From what bleak future was it saved, Haywain?"
Well, firstly, I should declare that my personal love for the building stems from the fact that our band played there many times between 1989 and 2004; it's not Wembley Arena I know, but we had some fun times. I moved to Bury in 1975 and got to know the Corn Exchange as the beautiful Grade 1 listed building at the top of Abbeygate Street and, as a concert venue, before I actually played there.
In 2017, I attended a lecture at Bury Record Office by Dr John Orbell, a professional historian who had just written a book titled "A Handsome and Substantial Building - a history of Bury St Edmunds Corn Exchange"; I have the book by my side at the moment. I learned that the present Corn Exchange was the second incarnation, built in 1862 - the earlier building simply wasn't big enough. Apparently, corn trading only took place for two hours on a Wednesday afternoon and, pretty soon, it was realised that the building wasn't earning its keep and therefore further uses had to be found. It was used for dances during the war, wrestling, roller-skating rink, concerts and private social functions. Its main use was as a concert hall, but the acoustics weren't brilliant and, when the purpose-built 'Apex' was completed in 2010 the future of the Corn Exchange was again called into question.
There had been an earlier crisis in the 1960s with the threat of demolition and replacement by a ghastly shopping 'block' but this was averted when some genius who came up with the idea of putting a floor in the building to make it into two stories with shops occupying the ground floor.
The 2010 crisis was settled when Wetherspoons took over and restored the building very tastefully (IMHO); at the time, there were objections, of course, but there were no viable alternatives. In his lecture, I wondered what historian John Orbell would make of the occupation of the building by Wetherspoons and, in effect, converting it into a pub ....... he was delighted that new life had been breathed into this wonderful building.
Whenever we get visitors, I give them a guided tour of Bury and we end up at the Corn Exchange where they can sample a pint of freshly-brewed, perfectly-kept GK IPA (£1.65) or Abbott (£2.25) ..... pre-covid prices.
www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/england/suffolk/the-corn-exchange-bury-st-edmunds
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