Central Library services will move to a temporary home in Northminster House in November to enable the Central Library building to undergo a £6 million major refurbishment.
Central Library in Broadway, Peterborough will close on Friday 30 October 2026 to allow for all the books and other services to be transferred to a temporary library in Northminster House in Northminster Road, Peterborough, and will be known as Northminster Library.
The temporary library will open in Northminster House on 9 November 2026.
During the week while Central Library is closed awaiting the opening of the temporary Northminster Library the other nine Peterborough libraries will remain open as usual, alongside the mobile library service and the digital library, BorrowBox, so there are still plenty of ways to access library services.
The council is leasing Northminster House from October 2026 to March 2028 to enable sufficient time for the library services to relocate to Northminster House and, once the renovation is complete, return to a modern, flexible, digitally focused library in the heart of the city.
The refurbishment of Central Library is being designed to meet the changing needs of the community, with dedicated areas for community groups, events and other activities.
The project is funded by the city council’s Regeneration Fund including monies from the Government’s Towns Fund.
Over the next month, library staff will be packing up Central Library ready for the building closure. All the current services provided by Central Library including book loans, photocopying, printing, access to public computers, group events and activities, will move to Northminster Library, with the exception of the study rooms.
Councillor Zameer Ali, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Safety said: “Central Library is a well-used, well-loved library and it is important we invest in it now to protect its future. The building has not had any major investment for over 30 years.
“This is an opportunity for us to modernise our library so it meets the needs of today’s school children, students, families and other users and provides a library service fit for the future.
“This is an exciting project and one we very much want the public to be involved in. We will be holding information sessions in the temporary Northminster House library about the Central Library refurbishment and there will also be some opportunities for the city’s children to get involved as the project progresses.
“As an administration, we are focused on the future of the city and the future of our children.”
To keep up to date with the Central Library project visit Peterborough Libraries and Archives | Peterborough City Council