Belsize Community Library's free 90th anniversary exhibition opens Monday 26 October, with £5 local history talks to March. It is asking for 90 monthly donors.

Belsize Community Library is 90 years old, and it is marking the year with a free exhibition, a run of local history talks and a children’s competition. The exhibition opens on Monday 26 October, the first day of half term, and stays up until March 2027.

The library on Antrim Road opened in 1937. Its own history says it was designed by H.A. Gold and R. de W. Aldridge and calls it “a rare example of an inter-war branch library” (Belsize Community Library). It describes the building as Grade II listed.

The quick answer

  • What: a 90th anniversary exhibition on the library’s history, with a short documentary film made for the anniversary.
  • When: from Monday 26 October 2026 to March 2027, during normal opening hours.
  • Where: Belsize Community Library, Antrim Road, NW3 4XP.
  • Cost: free. The evening talks ask for a £5 donation.

The anniversary programme

The library has published its programme on its 90th anniversary page. The evening talks run from 7.30pm to 9pm. Each asks for a £5 suggested donation, paid by cash or card, which includes refreshments. No booking is needed.

Date Event
From Monday 26 October 90th anniversary exhibition and short film, all ages
Thursday 19 November “The English Public Library 1850 to 1930”, Susie Barson, senior architectural historian at Historic England
From November to January “Design a New Library Card” competition for children aged 5 to 11
Thursday 10 December “Domestic Servants and the Domestic Workers’ Union in Belsize”, Professor Laura Schwartz, University of Warwick
Thursday 21 January 2027 “German Jewish Refugees in 1930s Belsize”, Charlie Knight, University of London
Thursday 18 February 2027 “Remarkable Homes of NW3”, David Percy, cinematographer and local historian
Thursday 18 March 2027 “Celebrating Belsize Library from 1897 to 2027”, Averil Nottage, local historian
2027, date to be set 90th anniversary gala

The 18 March talk falls on the exact anniversary of the opening, the library says, and ends with a cake cutting. The Historic England talk will cover how the building came to be listed.

The library also lists a community street party for Sunday 9 May, with live music and face painting. Its page gives the year as 2026, which has passed. 9 May falls on a Sunday in 2027, so check the date nearer the time.

The anniversary was launched at an evening event at the library this month. The library listed Victoria Coren Mitchell, the presenter of Only Connect, and Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and Highgate, among the speakers.

Black and white photograph of the inside of Belsize Library around the time it opened, with tall windows, globe lights, round tables and wooden bookcases
Inside the library in its early years, from the photograph on the library's anniversary page. Photo: via Belsize Community Library.

Why it needs money

The library faced closure in 2012. The Winch, a north Camden children’s charity, rescued it and has run it since as a community library (Belsize Community Library).

That means it is not funded like a council library. “We are not funded like a public library, but rely largely on the generosity of our community,” its donations page says.

The library says it “is currently facing financial pressure”. Its anniversary goal is 90 local “champions” who each give £25 or more a month (Become a Library Champion). Champions will be named during the year and thanked at the finale.

There is good news to set against that. In 2025 the library won the Community Heritage Award at the Locality Awards, which is supported by Historic England (Belsize Community Library).

What it means for you

If you have children off school next week, the exhibition opens on Monday and the library’s weekly sessions carry on. On Monday 26 October it lists story and rhyme time for under-fives at 10.15am and stories and games for 5 to 9 year olds at 4pm. Our Camden half term page has more ideas for the week.

If you want to go to a talk, turn up on the night with £5. No ticket is needed.

If you want to help keep it open, the library takes one-off donations, monthly gifts and volunteers through its get involved page. You can also hire a room there outside opening hours, from 8am to 10pm.

Opening hours: Monday and Tuesday 10am to 6pm, Wednesday 12pm to 8pm. The contact page lists no other opening days (contact page). Phone 020 7586 6746 or email library@thewinch.org.

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