watford colosseum was built in 1938 as watford town hall assembly rooms to the design of architect charles cowles-voysey and acoustician hope bagenal. it acquired a worldwide reputation for its fine acoustics, and throughout the second half of the twentieth century it was used for concerts and recordings by leading orchestras and musicians. rising costs and falling attendance led the council to close it in 1994, reopening it in 1995 as the colosseum in a joint management agreement with a commercial company who had previously operated at the town and country club in london. after the management company collapsed in 2004, the colosseum was managed by watford council until april 2010, when it closed to undergo a £5.5 million refurbishment; reopening in august 2011 with new management.