History buffs can return to Bancroft Library after completion of improvement works
The East End’s Bancroft Library, which the East London Advertiser campaigned to save, is to reopen on January 31.
The Grade-II listed building in Bancroft Road, formally known as Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives has undergone works designed to improve health and safety standards within the building and disabled access.
An official opening for the library, which houses a collection covering 400 years of East End history, will be held on February 14.
A council spokeswoman said the council had invested �255,000 ‘to make the building compliant with current building regulations and disabled access legislation.’
She said: “The building is currently undergoing construction works to support its redevelopment as a heritage centre for the East End.”
The East London Advertiser ran a campaign in 2008 to save the archive and in a council meeting last October, a motion was put forward asking Mayor Lutfur Rahman to ensure �500,000 of funding was given over to Bancroft.
At the time, the deputy mayor Ohid Ahmed said ‘further repairs’ were required on the library, home to 20,000 books and pamphlets.
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