Radcliffe Library on Stand Lane shuts at 1pm on Saturday 3 October to move into The Hub. No reopening date yet; Bury, Prestwich and Ramsbottom stay open.
Radcliffe Library on Stand Lane will close at 1pm on Saturday 3 October. Staff will then move its books and equipment into The Hub, Radcliffe’s new £40m town centre building.
Bury Council has not given a reopening date. It says the new library will open “later in autumn 2026” and that the exact date will be announced nearer the time. The council announced the closure on 30 September.
What happens while it is shut
The council has set out these arrangements for library members:
- Books borrowed from Radcliffe after Saturday 12 September can be kept and returned to The Hub once it opens. They can also go back to any other Bury library.
- No overdue fines will be charged on Radcliffe Library items during the closure.
- Reservations can still be made online, for collection at another library.
- Bury, Prestwich and Ramsbottom libraries stay open.
The opening hours of the three, from the council’s find a library pages:
| Library | Address | Opening hours |
|---|---|---|
| Bury | Manchester Road, BL9 0DG | Tue, Wed, Fri 10am to 4.30pm; Thu 12.30pm to 7pm; Sat 9.30am to 1pm |
| Prestwich | The Phoenix Centre, St Mary’s Road, M25 1GG | Tue, Wed, Fri 10am to 4.30pm; Thu 12.30pm to 7pm; Sun 9.30am to 1pm |
| Ramsbottom | Carr Street, BL0 9AE | Tue, Wed, Fri 10am to 4.30pm; Thu 12.30pm to 7pm; Sat 9.30am to 1pm |
All three are closed on Mondays. Prestwich’s page lists a Sunday morning session and no Saturday opening, the reverse of the other two, so check before you travel.
Radcliffe Library is also one of the council’s Council Information Points, according to its own page. The closure announcement does not say where that service goes in the meantime.
What the new library will have
The Hub stands on Blackburn Street in the town centre. The council says construction finished in the summer and the building is now being fitted out.
According to the council’s page on the new library, it will be much larger than the Stand Lane library and split across two floors. It promises:
- a dedicated children’s library on the ground floor
- new books and a local history collection tailored to Radcliffe
- free wi-fi and computers on both floors
- rooms for study and for courses run by Bury Adult Learning Service
- space for local community groups
- opening seven days a week, with self-service access outside core hours
The Stand Lane library currently opens five days a week and closes on Sundays and Mondays.
The library will share the building with a new leisure centre. Bury Leisure’s page on the facilities lists a 25 metre six-lane pool, a 15 by 10 metre learner pool, a 100-station gym, two fitness studios, Clip’n Climb walls, an open-air rooftop activity space, and a ground floor café shared with library users.
Gavin McGill, the council’s cabinet member for culture, economy and skills, said the closure “marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for library services in the town”. He added: “While we appreciate customers’ patience during the move, the short-term disruption will be well worth it.”
The move is later than first planned
The council’s enterprise centre page still says the library would relocate to The Hub “after spring 2026”. The new announcement puts the opening in late autumn, with no date.
That page also explains what happens to the Stand Lane building. Work to turn its ground floor into the Radcliffe Enterprise Centre began in June 2025. It is a £2.8m project, with £1.9m from the UK government and £900,000 from Bury Council.
The ground floor has eight rentable offices, hot desks and a meeting room. Once the library leaves the first floor, the enterprise centre expands into it with more meeting rooms and flexible workspace. The council says Radcliffe needs one because unemployment is higher than in much of the borough and town centre office space is scarce.
The council’s questions and answers on the Hub gives “Winter 2026” for the leisure centre opening. Radcliffe has been without its own pool since the old leisure centre closed to make way for the new secondary school. We have set out the wider Radcliffe schemes on our Bury planning news page.
What it means for you
- If you want to use Radcliffe Library, you have until 1pm on Saturday. After that, use Bury, Prestwich or Ramsbottom.
- If you have Radcliffe books at home, you will not be fined. Keep them for The Hub, or drop them at any Bury library.
- If you have a reservation, choose another library to collect it from when you place it online.
- If you need the Council Information Point, ring the council on 0161 253 5000 to ask where to go while Stand Lane is shut.
- If you are waiting for the pool, no opening date has been published for that either.
We will update this page when the council names the opening date.
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