Shaw House set to lose 75 per cent of council funding

SHAW House, which is struggling to attract visitors and extra income, is likely to lose 75 per cent of its West Berkshire Council funding by 2018/19.
The council currently provides a subsidy of around £150,000 a year to maintain the historic Grade I building, but is looking to reduce that total to £36,500 a year.
It says that the 16th-century manor, the largest Elizabethan house in West Berkshire, is not being used effectively or marketed well enough and pointed to declining visitor numbers and the state of the grounds, which the council says are in desperate need of repair.
At a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee last week, many councillors expressed concern at the number of schoolchildren visiting Shaw House as part of a school trip.
When setting its targets for visitor numbers for the house, the council anticipated that 1,680 pupils from schools across the district would visit each year, but in 2012/13, only 295 schoolchildren explored the building as part of a trip.
The council has admitted that visits by large numbers of school pupils have been difficult to accommodate owing to the increased staffing requirements.
Comments were also made about the poor presentation of the gardens, the unfinished car park to the east of the site and the detrimental appearance caused by parking to the south of the house, as well as the lack of food preparation and kitchen facilities on site.
The committee has now put forward a series of recommendations to the council’s culture portfolio holder, including that the budget for marketing be increased to at least £20,000 per annum, four times its current total, the number of days for which the house is open to the public to be increased from 116 to 200 and volunteers to be recruited to assist with the running of the house.
Another suggestion made was to offer the house to film and televison companies. However, it was pointed out that the house was not always considered appropriate as exclusivity cannot be provided and noise can be heard from the A34.
During the meeting, Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) said: “There is no sign outside that says ‘This is Shaw House come in’ and sadly there are not enough exhibitions. It is a beautiful building and when people come here they really get the wow factor. Unfortun-ately not enough people come.”
Councillor Emma Webster (Con, Birch Copse) added: “I’ve heard Shaw House described as the hidden gem of Berkshire. Sadly it still seems to be very much hidden.”
Shaw House is currently used as a visitor attraction; as a meeting, seminar and conference venue, office accommodation for a number of council services, and as a venue for marriage and citizenship services.
The council is currently limited to what it can allow the building to be used for owing to restrictions imposed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, as part of its agreement to give the council a £4.2m grant to help restore the building back to public use. Built for Thomas Dolman in 1581, Shaw House was a private home until 1939 when it was requisitioned by the military for wartime use.