In the late 1850s the Vestry Board of St Mary, Newington met in the Infant School Room in Queen's Head Row as well as in a room in the local parish church. After civic leaders found this arrangement was inadequate, they decided to procure a purpose-built
vestry hall: the site selected on Walworth Road had previously been open land owned by the
Worshipful Company of Fishmongers. The new building, which was designed by Henry Jarvis in the
Italianate style and built Piper and Wheeler, was officially opened on 8 August 1865. After the Newington Public Library had been built to the south east of the town hall in 1892, an infill extension was added between the two buildings in 1893. The town hall became the headquarters of the
Metropolitan Borough of Southwark and was renamed "Southwark Town Hall" in 1900. It was extended along Wansey street to provide further accommodation in 1902. It was subsequently used as workspace by the council, becoming known as "Walworth Town Hall", and was also used as the local registrar's office. The roof of the building was badly damaged by a fire in March 2013 and the building was subsequently added to the
Heritage at Risk Register. In March 2018, the council announced that the building would be restored and appointed Feix & Merlin as architects and General Projects as the developer for works. Plans were announced in 2019 to introduce a commercial partner. Proposals for the restoration works, which included educational activities, creative workshops and studio spaces, were submitted for planning consent in June 2020. Work began on the building's refurbishment in March 2022. ==References==