In the 1877, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company, to be known as the "Pontypridd Market and Town Hall Company", to finance and commission an indoor market and town hall for Pontypridd. The authority to proceed with this endeavour was contained in an act of parliament, "The Pontypridd Markets, Fairs and Town Hall Act 1877". The initial building was a narrow structure designed in the
Mannerist style, built in rock-faced stone by William Seaton of Pontypridd at a cost of £1,600 and was completed in 1885. Inside, there was a new market hall on the ground floor and, above it, there was an auditorium which became known as "Pontypridd Town Hall". It provided seating for about 1,700 people. Speakers in the town hall included
Winston Churchill, who visited Pontypridd in September 1905. Fixed stalls were installed in the market in the 1910s, then the ground floor of the new building became its central hall. It was subsequently surrounded by buildings on all sides and so invisible from outside; entrance was by iron bridges. Meanwhile,
Sir Harry Secombe and
Sir Geraint Evans, supported by the
Côr Meibion Pontypridd, performed in the auditorium, by then known as the "Town Hall Theatre", in November 1959. The town hall theatre closed in 1982. In 2015, a group was formed with plans to restore and divide the theatre, to form two smaller theatres, a cinema, a cafe and a restaurant. ==Architecture==