Births Deaths and Marriages... and the superintendent's flat

And the Guildhall is highly popular as a wedding destination not least because of the beautiful photo opportunities the building affords inside and out.

My guide Colin Sharp, who is the superintendent, guides me down the main hallway to the right, where a suite of rooms are squirrelled away.

"They were moved down here because they were in several premises in and around the City, with Riverview being one of the locations.

"So they moved in here, if I remember rightly in the late 1980s.

"The reason they moved the offices in here is because most of the civil marriages - in fact all civil marriages at that time - would have been held here in the Guildhall and, in fact it was only the one room that they used at that time and that would have been the Council chamber," he said.

Taking a quick peek into the waiting area and then the Whittaker Suite, which is the smaller of the rooms in which weddings can be staged, Colin tells me that the Guildhall is a popular place in which to get married.

"As you can see yourself it is a very pretty place in which to get married, particularly when it comes to taking photographs and particularly so when you go upstairs and you look at the main hall.

"It is very popular. In fact, there are four main rooms where you can get married here and the Registrar can now marry people outside the Guildhall in hotels and there was even one booked for the Toucan One (the sightseeing boat on the River Foyle].

Very popular

"That said, quite a lot of weddings are still held in the Guildhall as the Guildhall is still very popular and when you go upstairs you will see why, because it is very church-like, albeit it is the Civic Ballroom, but the stained glass windows make it spectacular for photographs," he tells me.

The Registrar's office is actually the former Town Clerk's office.

"You can stage very small weddings there (the couple and two witnesses); the Whittaker Suite, the Council chamber itself, and the rooms upstairs, depending on how many guests you have.

"All of the rooms, apart from the council chamber, can also be hired out for other functions.

"We can accommodate anything from four people up to 400, but you cannot hold your party there as, believe it or not, one of the only functions you cannot get a bar licence for is a wedding," Colin says.

One of the biggest discoveries about the Guildhall, personally speaking, was discovering that there used to be a superintendent's flat which was accessed by a set of recessed stairs off the ground floor kitchen.

The kitchen is due for improvement, Colin tells me: "It's due for a refurb.

"We hope the stonework outside will be started soon, but when they are moving the council chamber back up to the Minor Hall this whole kitchen is going to be taken away.

"There are big plans for it, but this was the original kitchen.

"This back part would have been the Superintendent's kitchen, and there was a breakfast bar."

Hospitalised

Miles Stott was the last Superintendent to live in the flat, in about 1979 or 1980.

At the time of the famous bombing of the Guildhall he was in his bed, designed almost like a four-poster, and a beam fell across the bed protecting him to a degree.

That did not stop Miles from being hospitalised for three or four days, where he was treated for shock and trauma.

"Shortly after that he gave up the flat and moved to the Waterside," Colin says, as we stare into the rooms.

Now the three-bed flat is used for offices and storage, and one is a tearoom for the staff.

Originally this room would have been the Superintendent's former livingroom with a TV and whatever else.

"There were three bedrooms and a small bathroom. This is only used for staff now and for storage," he says.

As an aside while we are walking between the rooms, Colin recalls the days of the handbag check and the room checks, which were part of the rigorous security procedures of the time.

"After every function the building had to checked and every night the building had to be checked by sniffer dogs. It was a nightmare.

"Eventually we got the doors locked.

"But I remember being here when the Army brought in the sniffer dogs.

"The building was a prime target, perhaps the prime target because of its link with London. I wouldn't like to go back to those times," he says.

I don't think any of us want to...