The building is faced with ashlar stone with the over-fussy decorative embellishments typical of the mid-Victorian period.
A purpose-built meeting room was first suggested in 1852 and was combined with a proposal to build a Market Hall. Subscriptions were collected, and various premises in the Marketplace were considered, but the scheme was postponed through insufficient funds. Several local tradesmen formed a trust to purchase a property in St John’s Street, which was rebuilt as a lecture and meeting room (now St John’s Gallery and Café). The Market or Town Hall went ahead as a separate project, and, eventually, another property was purchased in the Market Place and rebuilt as the Market Hall. The stone pediment shows the date 1861 along with the names of the Trustees.
The Hall was built on the site of the Talbot Inn, mentioned in Izaak Walton's and Charles Cotton's "The Complete Angler". In the book, Piscator Junior and Viator stopped here for a drink on horseback before heading for the River Dove at Milldale, an early form of a "drive-through".
Just above the entrance to Townhall Yard is a small memorial to Mr Tom Fearn, aged 40, killed when the balance bar fell from the fire bell, which used to be situated above this entrance and was being rung because of a report of a fire. The bell was used to alert the fire crews to man the fire engine, then kept at the rear of the George and Dragon. Sadly, the alert proved to be a false alarm on this tragic occasion. The phone call was traced to Ella stone, but the culprit was never discovered. Mr Fearn's descendants still live in the Town and arrange for this memorial to be erected in his honour.