The closure of Millport Town Hall means that a series of forthcoming festival events on the island have had to hurriedly find new premises.

The first such event, the annual Cumbrae Plant Show this Saturday, has been moved to the DA Hall, while a new marquee has been offered in the Garrison grounds for the Country and Western Festival on 4-6 September.

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “A decision was taken on Wednesday (3 August) to close Millport Town Hall in the interest of public safety.

“The building’s condition has deteriorated over a number of years, despite repair works to try and resolve issues with the roof. Our main priority is always to ensure that there is no risk to the public and therefore we have closed the building for safety reasons.

“We are working with community groups to ensure suitable alternative venues are available for their bookings.”

Councillor Alan Hill went to see for himself the state of Millport Town Hall and backed the decision taken by NAC.

He said: "I was in and was given a tour around. I went in the hope that we could discover it was in a good position to get another year's use out of the building, but these hopes were absolutely shot. There is some water on the floor, problems have re-occurred with the roof, and plaster on the wall is coming off.

"The building has been declared unfit for use, and that is something I would concur with.

"We have been working on the basis of existing vacancies, and making sure bookings go ahead in different venues, and the Country and Western Festival has been given a marquee as an alternative to the town hall."

The 'News' understands that the Garrison could play a larger role in terms of hosting future events, with a greater emphasis on improving facilities at a modern purpose built building.