The Assembly House Trust

Supporting artists and communities since 1945

Sofia Coppola - Pedro Almodóvar - Leos Carax

Free Film Screenings

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  • The Assembly House is a magnificent Grade I listed Georgian building located in the heart of the city of Norwich.

  • Visit the What’s On page to browse the upcoming events, or join the mailing list.

  • The Trust is a registered charity established in 1945. There are currently six Trustees who have overall control of the charity.

    The Trust owns The Assembly House, facilitates an arts programme, supports community events and manages the upkeep of the building.

    Find out more about the Trust and Trustees

  • The restaurants, luxury bedrooms and function rooms at The Assembly House are all run by a commercial business, which was taken over by Richard Hughes and Iain Wilson in 2009 and which operates entirely separately from the Trust. Click here for restaurant or room bookings and further information.

    The Assembly House has a vibrant history, including being a Camouflage School during the Second World War, a Dance School in Victorian times, and hosting a cinema in recent times. The heritage page has detailed information on the house and grounds dating back to 1248.

    Did you know? The previous incarnation of The Assembly House as a religious institution is echoed in the street names nearby: Chapel Field Gardens (previously Chapply Fields), The Chantry and Chantry Road.

How does the Trust support artists and communities?

 

The Summer Open Exhibition

The Summer Open is a bi-annual exhibition. The exhibition is free to enter, there is no commission taken on sales and it is free to visit, this is made possible through the support of The Assembly House Trust. In 2025, 550 artists from Norwich to Northern Ireland submitted a total of 1300 works for the Summer Open, with work from 46 artists selected, and over 800 visitors attending.

Summer Open 2025
 
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A Free Online Arts Programme

Assembly Online is a free programme of visual arts, sound, poetry and performance. The events were live streamed via YouTube every two weeks between April 2020 – April 2021, offering free cultural resources to a global audience during the pandemic.

Assembly Online was made possible through the support of the Trust, and provided paid work to both local and international guests from over 20 different countries. The events have been watched over 38,000 times and are available on our YouTube Channel for free.

The Assembly Online Archive
 
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Classical Concerts

Assembly House Classical presents a series of lunchtime classical recitals, showcasing prize winning musicians in the stunning Georgian Music Room of The Assembly House in Norwich. The programme costs are supported by the Trust.

Since 2017, Assembly House Classical has hosted over 28 concerts including: Joanna MacGregor, Sacconi Quartet, Benjamin Grosvenor, Tom Poster, Ben Comeau, Fitzwilliam Quartet, Daniel Pioro, Zoffany Ensemble and many more.

Concerts are programmed by Iain Lowery.

The Assembly House Trust is currently offering students in full-time education under the age of 25 FREE tickets to Thursday lunchtime Assembly House Classical concerts. Please email to apply for tickets.

Assembly House Classical
 
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The Community Fund

The Assembly House Trust introduced a fund to support charity and community organisations. The fund offers subsidised or free use of The Assembly House for local organisations in need of high quality facilities for events, fundraisers or community outreach. .

The Trust regularly offers free tickets for young people to attend events that it is supporting at the House.

Learn More
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“Norwich can be proud of its Assembly House. No other town of its size in England has anything like it except of course for a spa like Bath.”

— Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in The Buildings of England