The Oakham Suite: How Mansfield Masonic Hall Became a

Walk through the front door of Mansfield Masonic Hall and you might not realise you have stepped into a building with roots stretching back to 1892. The elegant facade on Nottingham Road gives little away. But inside, behind the polished bar and the carefully laid tables, there is a story about reinvention — about a fraternal hall that refused to sit empty between lodge nights and instead threw its doors open to the town.

The Oakham Suite, as the venue hire side of the business is now known, has turned this Masonic hall into one of Mansfield’s busiest independent event spaces. Weddings, birthday parties, corporate conferences, funeral wakes, live music nights — the building hosts them all, week in, week out, without ever losing the character that makes it special.

A building with more than one past

The hall at 155 Nottingham Road was not always a Masonic building. A marble plaque inside records that the land was donated by Bros W.M. Jas and Robert P.R. Smith on 21 July 1891, and the hall was declared open by Bro Robert P.R. Smith on 17 November 1892. It was built for the Loyal Mansfield Lodge of the Manchester Unity International Order of Oddfellows — another fraternal organisation with deep roots in working-class Nottinghamshire.

At some point in the twentieth century, the Freemasons and the Oddfellows effectively swapped premises, and the Masons took possession of the Nottingham Road building. A lodge room was constructed within the existing structure, and the hall became Mansfield Masonic Hall — a home for Craft lodges in the town and a hub for the wider Masonic community in the area.

The building is now managed by the Mansfield Masonic Hall Company Limited, a registered company that maintains the premises and oversees its use. It is a model that many Masonic halls across England rely on — a small company of Freemasons taking responsibility for a building that serves both the Craft and the community.

Eight lodges and counting

Mansfield Masonic Hall is not a one-lodge building. According to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Nottinghamshire, eight Craft lodges currently meet at the hall:

• Forest Lodge No. 1852 — one of the oldest in the area
• Ashfield Lodge No. 2412
• Broxtowe Lodge No. 3648
• Edwinstowe Lodge No. 3998 — relocated to Mansfield from Goldsmith Street, Nottingham in 1987
• Byron Lodge No. 4014
• Kirkeby Lodge No. 5288
• De Sutton Lodge No. 7067
• Old Elizabethan Lodge No. 7714 — formed in 1960 from Broxtowe Lodge, originally for past students and staff of a local school, though it has welcomed all-comers since about 1985
• Saint Peter’s Lodge No. 8493 — consecrated in April 1973 to accommodate the growth in Masonic membership across Mansfield

That is nine lodges sharing a single building — a busy programme of meetings that keeps the hall in regular use throughout the Masonic season. But even the busiest lodge calendar leaves gaps. Most lodges meet monthly, and the summer months are quiet. That is where the Oakham Suite comes in.

From lodge room to wedding venue

The centrepiece of the Oakham Suite’s offering is the Grand Temple itself — the same ornate room where Freemasons conduct their ceremonies. It is licensed for civil ceremonies and operates as a non-denominational space, which means couples can hold their wedding ceremony in a room with genuine architectural character: ornate detailing, high ceilings, and the kind of atmosphere that a chain hotel function room simply cannot replicate.

Beyond the Grand Temple, the venue offers five distinct suites that can be configured for different occasions. The ground-floor Oakham Suite and the first-floor Sandhurst Suite provide flexible spaces for everything from intimate gatherings to large-scale celebrations. The venue can seat up to 180 guests for a sit-down meal and accommodate 200 for an evening reception, with rooms also available for groups as small as ten.

The facilities are practical as well as attractive. There is a permanent wooden dancefloor — a detail that matters more than you might think — plus a fully licensed bar, a projector and screen, accessible facilities, and plenty of on-site parking. For weddings, an in-house coordinator helps couples plan their day from start to finish.

Something for everyone

The pricing tells its own story about accessibility. Wedding packages start from £1,995. Room hire for parties and celebrations begins at £300. Funeral wakes can be arranged from £200 for a two-hour booking, with additional hours at £50 each — a price point that puts a dignified, well-equipped venue within reach of most families. Corporate room hire starts at just £50 per hour, with a projector and screen included.

Catering is handled in-house, with options that reflect the diversity of modern Mansfield. Halal and vegan menus are available alongside traditional buffet packages. For those who want something different, there is space for external caterers or hog roasts. The drinks packages are flexible, and the venue has been known to accommodate requests for ice cream stations and prawn towers — the kind of personal touches that turn an event from good to memorable.

The wake packages are worth noting for their thoughtfulness. The hire price includes tea and coffee, tables laid with white linen, a projector and screen for photo slideshows, a memory table, and a soundbar for background music. A £100 deposit secures the date, with the balance due the day before. It is a simple, compassionate arrangement during what is always a difficult time.

Why this matters

Across England, Masonic halls face the same challenge. The buildings are beautiful, often historic, and expensive to maintain. Lodge subscriptions alone rarely cover the costs of heating, insurance, roof repairs, and compliance with modern building regulations. Many halls have closed. Others sit half-empty, their upkeep a burden on a shrinking membership.

Mansfield has taken a different approach. By establishing the Oakham Suite as a professional venue hire operation — complete with its own website, wedding brochures, and social media presence — the brethren behind the hall have created a revenue stream that supports the building’s upkeep while doing something equally valuable: inviting the public inside.

Every wedding guest who walks into the Grand Temple, every family who gathers for a wake, every business team who books a conference room — they all leave having spent time in a Masonic building. They have seen that it is not some forbidding, secretive place. It is a well-run venue with good food, a licensed bar, and staff who care about getting things right. That kind of first-hand experience does more for Freemasonry’s public image than any number of press releases.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Nottinghamshire, which oversees some 3,200 Freemasons across the county, has long encouraged this kind of openness. Masonic meetings take place somewhere in Nottinghamshire on almost every night of the week, and the Province understands that buildings which serve the wider community are buildings that survive.

A model worth copying

The Oakham Suite is not the only Masonic hall to operate a venue hire business, but it is doing it well. The website is polished. The brochures are professional. The reviews — from wedding couples, party hosts, and corporate clients alike — consistently praise the staff, the setting, and the value for money.

For lodges elsewhere that are struggling with half-empty halls and rising maintenance costs, Mansfield offers a practical template. Keep the lodge room. Keep the traditions. Keep the ceremonies. But open the doors the rest of the time, invest in the facilities, and let the community in.

It turns out that a building designed for fellowship makes a rather good place to celebrate.

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