People using your hall

One of the key things your hall needs is people using it! But having different groups and activities in your halls means a whole range of things you need to consider.

Booking systems

To make sure your hall is used well, you’ll need a system where people can book themselves in and someone to manage the bookings. This might be a responsibility you share, or you might decide to have one or two people in charge. However you manage it, you will need a central way to record bookings so that you avoid double-booking and make the best use of your space.

We’ve talked about online ways to manage bookings in our digital village halls section. You can also use a paper-based system, but bear in mind it can only be seen by people physically there at the time. You could also consider things like a shared digital calendar where events can be added.

You will also have to decide how to take any payments. It may feel easier to take cash payments, but remember that any cash transactions should be recorded, stored securely, and banked appropriately. You may be able to accept payments directly to a bank account, or use services like PayPal (but be aware there is normally a fee).

Advertising and promoting

Make sure people know about your hall and what you have on offer. Important details to include might be:

• When the hall is available for hire
• Hourly rates
• Capacity and different sizes of rooms
• Kitchen facilities
• Accessibility
• Availability.

There are loads of ways to do this, from putting up posters to word-of-mouth. You can also look at our information on using social media and online directories in our section on digital village halls.

Access to the building for hirers

Make sure you have thought through how people using the hall will access it.

You will need to decide who is a key-holder for the building. There is a balance between a few people having keys for convenience, with keeping the number of keys as low as possible for security. You will also need someone who can be there to let people in, which will take a bit of planning between key holders.

You may choose to have a key-safe at the hall, but again this will be a balance between convenience and security. You should give anyone using the hall guidance on what’s expected of them once they’re finished using it, e.g. locking up, making sure windows are locked, making sure lights are off, taking bin bags out etc. You may also want to make sure someone can check the building after use.

User agreements

It's a good idea to have an agreement that users of your hall can sign up to. This will make sure both parties understand and agree to the expectations around how the hall is used.

There are various possible legal and management agreements that you can apply to users of your community venue, when hiring out space. If you use a search engine to see other hall hire user agreements, you'll be able to find lots of examples to see what others include.

The Ethical Property Foundation also has useful guidance on how to hire out community spaces and what you need to know. 

There's also some useful information in our section on taking on a community space.