Stroud Subscription Rooms will remain in public hands for now after the district council authorised the sale of the venue to its town counterpart last night.

Stroud District Council is selling the building for £1 and will give a grant of £230,000 to help with running costs - so long as town councillors keep it as a cultural hub.

The district council is also setting aside a maximum of £125,000 for repairs to the 184-year-old arts and entertainment venue.

Authorisation of the sale at a district council committee meeting on Thursday, July 12 came after a long battle to keep the venue publicly owned.

The Sub Rooms were put up for sale by the district council in July last year, but by December councillors rowed back following a public outcry.

Groups like Support our Subs, which last April got 200 people to form a human ring outside the venue, feared private owners would disregard the building’s heritage.

Labour and Green councillors at the Thursday committee meeting welcomed the sale.

“We’ve done what we set out to do - keep the Subs in public hands,” said Green leader Martin Whiteside.

But Nigel Cooper, the Conservative leader, gave a scathing attack.

He described the sale as a “terrible deal for taxpayers in the district" and hit out at the Labour-Green administration for being "financially inept".

One question mark over the sale is the fate of the venue’s Tourist Information Centre.

According to the motion district councillors voted on, the “Town Council’s business plan does not provide accommodation for the TIC ... the TIC will have to vacate the building” subject to another committee’s decision on the future of the service.

Stroud Town Council have been approached for comment.

With the green light now given, both councils now begin tying up legal loose loose ends.

Completion of transfer will take place on or before March 31, 2019.

In the run up to the sale, town councillors have been devising a rescue plan for the building, electing eight trustees and setting out a business plan.