A number of Guild Hall employees have been relocated to the former Premier House building on Church Street, to make way for more entertainment space.

The group’s finance department has moved into the building, which was acquired by Guild Centre owner Simon Rigby earlier this year for over £200,000 from Preston City Council. The building, which is next to Tesco Express and had been vacant for years, has since been refurbished and renamed 1 The Guild.

Guild Group Commercial Manager Richard Simkin said: “We want the Guild Hall to focus 100 per cent on leisure and entertainment, so we’re looking at turning the vacated offices into fully immersive Virtual Reality rooms. They would be the first in the UK, and would offer people a chance to appear as avatars in a virtual world.”

Digital start-up Guild Visuals, an outdoor advertising agency that’s part of the Simon Rigby group, has also moved into the new offices.

Read more: Future of The Old Dog Inn is being reviewed

Richard added: “Hopefully this acquisition will help rejuvenate Church Street and act as a catalyst for the area like the Guild Hall has done, for example with the Stanley Arms refurbishment.

“We have around a dozen modern office spaces available at 1 The Guild, which can be adapted to suit from one person up to 30 people. Anyone who is interested in a space can contact me at richard.simkin@guildgroup.com.”

What do you think of the latest developments from the Guild group? Let us know in the comments below.