Former Drill Hall and adjoining house, dated 1890 and possibly by William Watkins and paid for by Joseph Ruston. Built in red brick with stone dressings. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. {1}{2} Built for a total cost of £10,000, construction started on the Drill Hall in 1889, with a grand opening event taking place on the 24th of May, 1890. The structure was built to provide drilling facilities for the 1st Lincolnshire Volunteer Battalion, and was opened by Edward Stanhope, the Secretery of State for War at the time, and by Joseph Ruston, who had funded the building's construction. The building was very much designed to resemble a military fortification, with crenelated embattlements and a watch turret to its imposing main entrance on Broadgate. The building contained an armoury large enough to store the entire volunteer battalion's weapons, with an adjacent workshop and magazine used to store ammunition. The building also included a gymnasium and an underground firing range, which used a Morris tube practice system that allowed a standard service rifle to be fired with smaller charges. A large and comfortably furnished reading and recreation room was also provided for the education of the volunteers. Alongside its military use, the building also provided community services, functioning as an emergency hospital during a typhoid epidemic that swept through Lincoln in 1904-5. Joseph Ruston also provided a place within the building for a state of the art soup kitchen, to help feed the poor of the city during times of hardship. The building became known to many Lincoln residents as the 'Bread and Cheese Hall' as a result. The Drill Hall was also used to host the annual New Year Robin Dinner in Lincoln, held from 1893 to 1939. The event provided a dinner for between 1000 and 1500 underpriviliged children each year, until fears for the safety of the children stopped the event after the outbreak of the Second World War. After 1945, the building became an entertainment venue, hosting many musical acts until it was forced to close in 1999 due to electrical problems. Refurbishment works commenced, allowing the venue to re-open in 2004, although with the main entrance now being from Free School Lane. {3}