Town Hall Digital Archive
Town Hall Digital Archive
First opened in 1834, Town Hall has hosted countless legendary artists and momentous events during its 191-year history. Moments in history have been marked within its walls, with Queen Victoria and leading suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst both having taken to the stage. The first ever public reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens was performed in 1853 and the venue has showcased musical icons such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Nina Simone and David Bowie to name just a few.
Now, for the first time all the archive material held across the city along with public submissions, have been collated into a publicly accessible digital archive for anyone to explore.
The creation of this archive was made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to collate and share the extraordinary history of the Town Hall, protecting these important items and stories for future generations.
Explore some of the highlights and enter the full archive below
From Queen's Freddie Mercury to Queen of Soul Ella Fitzgerald; Town Hall has seen performances from some of modern history's biggest musical icons
Global icons have played Town Hall
David Bowie, Buddy Holly, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones & Nina Simone are just a few of the legendary artists who have played Town Hall. See programmes, photos and tickets in the archive
Black Sabbath 1971
This programme is from Black Sabbath’s 1971 appearance at Town Hall, on the precipice of being catapulted to global fame. This is a rare surviving copy and was kindly sent in by owner, Keith Jones.
Miles Davis Quintet 1960
Recognised as one of the all-time leading Jazz musicians, Miles Davis played at Town Hall on 05 October 1960 on his first UK Tour. The programme is from the Town Hall Collection held at the Library of BirminghamTown Hall has been central to Birmingham's political and social life since it first opened in 1834
Anti-Slavery Meeting
Individually hand painted playing cards were used to advertise an upcoming Anti-Slavery meeting at Town Hall on 22 January 1873
Women's Suffrage
Town Hall was at the heart of the struggle for women's right to vote with leaders of the movement visiting to make historical speeches and mass events organised by local women.
Audio Memory
In this extract of an audio memory, captured on the 30 August 2025, regular Town Hall gig goer, Martin Voles-Smith, recollects the time Jeff Lynne had to assure the audience that there was no need to be worried by the lasers that hometown heroes, Electric Light Orchestra, were using as part of the show...
Some of the images in this archive are copyrighted by the respective photographers. They may not be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without prior written permission.