03/03/2026
****Update****
We still remain hopeful that the hall will remain open. We are now in communication with Moray Council with a view to renewing our agreement on a shorter term. We have had interest from members of the community to join the committee and have made suggestions to Moray Council. We hope to have a further update before the end of the week. However, time is limited to come to agreement.
****Official Statement****
We feel obligated, given the story in today’s digital version of the Northern Scot, to release an official statement regarding the future of the town hall. Forgive the long post, but we feel it only fair to be transparent with the local community.
We had hoped to make this statement on our terms, however this was not to be as the information was leaked by one of a very small group of people privy to the decisions made. The information was not leaked by any committee member. Prior to the story being reported by the Northern Scot further discussions were due to take place with a view to pursuing options for the halls future. Unfortunately these discussions have been scuppered by the release of the information.
Last week the Town Hall Management Committee made the decision to not renew our ‘License to Occupy’ agreement with Moray Council.
This morning we were contacted by the Northern Scot regarding the ‘Closure’ of the Lossiemouth Town Hall. Below is the content of the email received from the Northern Scot and our response.
We have not yet had the opportunity to contact all individuals who have booked the facility after 1 April. We will do so in the coming days and seek your understanding until we are able to do so. We did not want customers to find out via a misinformed leaked story. Unfortunately we are likely to receive a barrage of complaints, we understand, but please be kind and understand that we had no control of how you received this information.
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Email from Northern Scot:
Hi there,
My name is ######. I'm a reporter at The Northern Scot newspaper. We have been informed that Lossiemouth Town Hall is set to close with the football team and cash access given a month's notice.
I was wondering if you may be in a position to confirm this?
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Response to the Northern Scot:
This is not strictly true. The Lossiemouth Town Hall Management Committee are the current tenant, operating within the terms of our ‘License to Occupy’ agreement with Moray council.
Our 21 year ‘License to Occupy’ Agreement with Moray Council is due to expire on 31 March 2026. Whilst verbal agreement was offered, by Moray Council, to continue the arrangement in December no formal agreement has been presented to the Lossiemouth Town Hall Management Committee. Given the timeframe and other considerations such as notice for utilities, bookings etc, the management committee came to the decision of not to seek a new ‘License to Occupy’ agreement with Moray Council. Moray Council were informed of our decision late last week, we are still awaiting a response. The Lossiemouth Town Hall Management committee, as a charity, will explore the process to dissolve, under the guidance of OSCR. Any remaining funds will be distributed to local charities.
Context
The Lossiemouth Town Hall Management Committee initiated communication with Moray Council in September 2025 to establish our position, being mindful of license expiry on 31 March 2026. At this time we were keen to explore the opportunities to renew the license agreement. We had to pursue Moray Council for answers to the questions we raised. Eventually on 17 December 2025 we were verbally informed that the License could continue with amendments. We were informed that someone would be in contact to make arrangements early in the new year. As of today’s date we have received no further communication from Moray Council and no new formal agreement has been offered.
Cash Access UK have hired a room in the Lossiemouth Town hall since April 2025. Conversations regarding the extension of their hire took place in September 2025 to the point where measurements were taken as they were keen to extend their arrangement with the Lossiemouth Town Hall Management Committee. After informing Cash Access UK, at the end of December 2025, that we had verbal agreement from Moray Council to continue our ‘License to Occupy’ agreement we contacted Cash Access UK. We were surprised to be informed that it was unlikely they would pursue an extension due to ‘New’ building regulations. This was devastating for us to hear. Last week we heard from a different department of Cash Access UK asking if we would accept a 1-2 year agreement to continue the arrangement. It would appear that the different departments do not communicate with each other. At this stage with so much uncertainty we felt unable to commit with no guarantees of continued hire.
As a committee we made the difficult decision not to seek a renewal of the license agreement. As a committee we feel that we couldn’t wait any longer to make these difficult decisions and took the responsible action in notifying our current regular hires, giving one months notice.
Under the terms of our agreement with Cash Access UK we provided the statutory notice period as per our agreement between both parties. Lossiemouth Utd hire the Lesser Town Hall, terms and condition of their hire do not require any notice period to be given. Lossiemouth Utd have paid a nominal monthly fee, subsidised by the Lossiemouth Town Hall Management committee, for the past 2 years. We agreed to this arrangement as they were committed to providing services to the local community and have been doing so. Both of these regular hires were informed when their hires commenced that the ‘License to Occupy’ agreement was due to expire on 31 March 2026.
Under the terms of our ‘License to Occupy’ agreement with Moray Council the Lossiemouth Town Hall Management Committee are not responsible for any major repair work needed, this responsibility lies with Moray Council. We hired a contractor to undertake major internal decoration of the hall in 2020-21 at a cost of circa £35K. As the external condition of the hall has continued to deteriorate, and not repaired to the extent to prevent water ingress, the internal condition has suffered as a result. Promises to carry out substantial repairs have been made but have not been forthcoming. We understand that the maintenance of a Town Hall may not be a priority of Moray Council as budgets tighten, however it is never less disappointing for the committee, given the funds spent in maintaining the hall.
Lossiemouth Town Hall is managed and operated by a very small group of volunteers, as a management committee, all of whom are employed in other jobs. We have sought to increase our committee membership, but have been unsuccessful in doing so. We accept that time is valuable to people, but we’ve found it incredibly frustrating and deflating that we’ve been unable to increase the committee membership, to help the running of what is a fantastic facility. All of the current committee have organised and been involved in many fundraising activities on behalf of the hall such as a number of ‘Strictly’ events, which have been reported on by the Northern Scot. These events have raised significant funds for the Lossiemouth Town Hall and other local charities. We now feel that the time and commitment given to these events were in vain.
Over the past few years we have seen bookings decline, possibly as a result of the cost of living crisis. There also appears to be general apathy from the public, to the extent where bookings have had to be cancelled at a cost to the charity. Like many other charities and businesses we’ve had a number of non-payments for bookings. Operating costs have increased significantly and are becoming unsustainable. There are less grants to apply for and we are in an unfortunate position whereby we do not have any employed members of staff who are able to spend their whole day pursuing grant applications. We took all of these factors into consideration in coming to our decision.
Whilst the Lossiemouth Town Hall Management Committee will cease to manage the Lossiemouth Town Hall as of 1 April 2026, the Lossiemouth Town Hall can remain open to the public if Moray Council decide to do so.
We are saddened that the information has been leaked to the Northern Scot before we’ve had the opportunity to share the news with the local community on our own terms. There are only a handful of people who were aware of the situation and one of these people, not a committee member, chose to betray our trust and share this information. We will put out a separate notice via our page.
