Clydebank Town Hall will no longer be a mainly commercial venue, in a significant reversal for the community’s central building.

Councillors on Monday reversed what they approved only a few years ago, giving up on the halls being a money-making venue and instead being a municipal focal point.

Less than four years ago, council bosses warned they were losing £300,000 a year on the town hall. They cut back discounts to community groups and nearly drove Clydebank Musical Society to close.

At the time, in May 2018, cultural committee chairman Bailie Denis Agnew said: “This is a premiere venue - it’s not a community centre. We have to encourage groups to use other facilities.”

Since then there have been numerous attempts to change the town hall layout, including purging it of ship models and exhibits to make it more commercially viable. The amount of spending to overhaul the spaces, and designs, have repeatedly changed.

In July this year, Bailie Agnew tried to ban all future bookings for functions at the town hall after seeing only a few face masks on guests at events since the pandemic hit.

The committee agreed to no future bookings until planned work was finished.

Then the same committee called for a report on stopping the town hall being “commercially focused”.

Council officers, who previously pushed the hall to compete as a “premiere venue”, argued it should continue with a commercial approach.

There are fewer events such as weddings booked because of the pandemic and council staff argued the reduced numbers would be manageable.

But Bailie Agnew and other councillors on the committee instead voted to make the town hall a civic centre. It will cost the council an extra £80,000 a year. The cost will be added to the £5 million funding gap to the council’s budget for next year.

A report to councillors stated: “It is not expected that occupancy levels could ever be achieved at the town hall that would negate this revenue cost.”

Malcolm Bennie, chief officer of citizens, culture and facilities, told the meeting: “There have been several decisions taken which make it a commercial venue. Officers are fully aware that there have been concerns raised about the change to the civic nature of the building.”

Bailie Agnew said: “The town hall and its operation has been a difficult one for decades and trying to get the right balance so everyone can use it.”

In a separate item at the committee meeting, councillors also agreed to hold off on their bid to open the town hall seven days a week.

The council had warned there was a lack of footfall to the building even before the pandemic closed it. Fewer than 10 people a day visited on average.

They looked at 17 other Scottish town halls and none was open on a Sunday.

To open seven days a week would cost an extra £125,000. A cheaper option would be top open from Wednesday to Sunday and close the halls on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Council bosses wanted to put off the decision for six months to look at visitor levels once the building reopens.

Instead, Bailie Agnew and councillors agreed to hold a special meeting before Christmas to look at the issue again.

In 2018. the fees were doubled for groups using the town hall to recoup some of the £330,000 lost the previous year.

It drove Mummers Theatre Group to quit the town and Clydebank Musical Society warned they would fold because of the fees until a late deal to smooth over the fees.

But at the time, Bailie Agnew told the Post the groups were “heavily subsidised” in the past and other venues were available.

He said: “Something needs to be done about the town hall otherwise we’re going to lose the town hall. I can see the case of the town hall it would become a liability which I would hate, because I love the town hall of Clydebank.”