Our Vision — Castlebridge Reading Rooms

Our Vision

A living room for the village, again

The aim is a building that is open, used and useful — not a museum behind glass. What it becomes is for the village to decide together.

An artist's impression of the Castlebridge Reading Rooms restored — An artist's impression of the restored building, prepared by the community. The final design will follow conservation advice.

What it could become

This is deliberately not decided in advance. The community will choose, through an open process where anyone in the village can put forward an idea. The possibilities people have raised include:

A community library and reading space.
An exhibition and archive — including a permanent home for the Guinness World Records collection.
A small multi-use hall for classes, meetings and events.
Lettable rooms and quiet study space.
A café or social corner — or a mix of several of these.

The point of restoring the building is to give the village the room to make that choice.

The path there

A phased plan

Form the community trust and re-establish clean ownership of the building.
Insure the building — the step that allows everyday community use to resume.
Commission structural and asbestos surveys to know exactly what is needed.
Draw down heritage and community funding, matched by local contributions.
Carry out phased conservation and refurbishment.
Reopen, with a use and an operating model the village can sustain.

Help fund the work →

How it will be funded

A clear path to the money

Restoring a Protected Structure is paid for chiefly through heritage and community grants, not donations alone. The likely routes:

The Heritage Council's Community Heritage Grant.
LEADER, through Wexford Local Development — up to 75% of capital costs.
The Historic Structures Fund and the Built Heritage Investment Scheme.
The Community Recognition Fund, which has funded comparable village halls.

Most of these open for applications in 2027, and each asks the community to contribute a share — usually around a fifth — before the larger grant is released. That local match is why community support matters: a modest local gift helps unlock several times its value.

A natural ally

Given that Guinness gifted the building in 1980, and that the idea for the Book of Records was born in Castlebridge, the trust will also approach Guinness and Diageo for corporate support — a fitting partnership for a building they once gave to the village.

How you can help fund it →