Hiring a Room at Shildon Railway Institute

We're pleased to confirm that room hire is now available to both members and the wider public. members enjoy a discount on our affordable room hire rates. See the enquiry form at the bottom of this page for more details.

We have three spaces available for hire:

The Main Function Hall

This room (see image below) is one of the jewels in the crown of the Institute. It's spacious, with enough room to seat 180 of your guests (220 with standing room). With its large dance floor and stage area it is a versatile room ideal for gigs or performances; keep fit classes; ceilidhs and dances; lectures, large meetings or conferences. As the windows have been covered over it's also ideal for showing films or projecting at any time of year, day or night and the light show for your disco or gig will look great even on the light summer nights. It's conveniently located on the ground floor making it easy to access and load equipment in to. A bar can be provided if you need this for your event.

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The Hackworth Lounge

Is a small comfortable room with seating for 40 that is generally open to the public, but can by arrangement be reserved exclusively for meetings of clubs or groups, or for small parties and family occasions, whenever you want to have a room exclusively to yourselves.

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The MacNay Room

Housing our Whitfield Library collection of rail heritage and local history books, the MacNay room is an ideal space for meetings and gatherings of clubs and societies - or even classes and tuition. It's a great quiet space to concentrate and reflect. This room has tables and chairs to comfortably accommodate up to 16 people - but can be reconfigured a little for other purposes. Being on the first floor this room isn't wheelchair accessible - but we're hopeful it will be one day.

Planning to bring people under 18 years of age to your event?

We are a licensed premises and therefore there are rules and restrictions relating to the attendance of under 18s at Shildon Railway Institute. Our license states:

“Children are only allowed on the premises within the parameters of the law and also on the following basis:

when attending private family bookings or other special organised functions (Christmas or other seasonal parties, Easter, Halloween, etc) or formally run activities in the main hall or lounge, or
in the lounge, but only between the hours of 12:00hrs and 18:00hrs at weekends and on bank holidays

They must be accompanied at all times by parents / family members, and are not allowed in other areas of the premises excepting the toilets, nor can they purchase drinks of any description.

The organisation has and operates an agreed Safeguarding Policy, which includes coverage of the safeguarding of children and is reviewed annually by the management committee.”

Enquire online about booking a space at the Institute.

Our rooms are now available to be booked by the public. You can enquire right now at any time of the day using this online form, and we'll do our best to get back to you quickly. Room hire is subject to a small booking fee and there may be other charges depending upon the nature of your event. Please note that room bookings are subject to acceptance and confirmation by our staff.