In rural Norfolk, from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, there were 160 village reading rooms. According to a 2009 study by the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, many started out as “alternatives to the public house for the working classes, although they tended to appeal more to the lower middle classes, and membership was mostly restricted to males.”
In the 20th century, as other diversions appeared and the countryside became more “democratised”, reading rooms gradually declined. They were, however, an important part of village life and have left interesting evidence of former lifestyles and attitudes.

In Burgh, the original Reading Room was an army hut donated by the War Office and erected on the site soon after 1918. Its purpose was to provide recreational facilities for men returning from the Great War.
The land on which the Burgh hut was erected in Church Lane, was rented to the trustees for the sum of one shilling (5p or worth the equivalent of about £3 today) a year by Mr Charles Grix.
Money was made available to the parish for the provision of facilities such as furnishings, a gramophone, dartboard, shelving, etc and daily newspapers. The parish also provided items such as a piano, dominoes and games.
Subsequently the room was used for wider purposes over a period of years including regular whist drives, socials, family parties, wedding receptions, christenings, youth club, polling station for local and national elections, concerts, mobile library, jumble sales and other fund raising events.
However, by the mid-eighties it was rarely used due to its general state of disrepair, lack of toilet accommodation, and other facilities regarded as necessities at the time.

Many of the items in the fitting out, such as cooker, fridge-freezer, etc were generously donated. The bar was constructed by ‘our own in-house’ joinery expert, and the front is faced with reclaimed timbers, from the floor of the old Reading Room building.
It had taken more than four years of seemingly never-ending meetings, avalanches of paper, and sometimes very difficult, frustrating bureaucracy.

As a condition of obtaining some of the grants it was necessary for us to register as a charity, via the Government Charity Commissioners. This in itself was a very lengthy and complicated procedure. [The original ‘Deed of Gift’ of the land was given to the trustees by Vivienne Mary Grix in 1986. In order to gain charity status the deed was modified in 1995 to meet the Charity Commissioners requirements.]

Eventually we became Licensed Charity No. 1066626. As a charity we have to abide by certain extra rules, and as a result the following distinctions apply:

The Burgh Reading Room Society is managed by the Reading Room management committee.
The Burgh Reading Room Social Club is one of the hirers/users of the Reading Room, and has its own committee and officers.
Trustees of the Burgh Reading Room are responsible for ensuring that the premises are utilized and managed properly. (J. Hagg 2004)