The Jubilee Hall was built in 1936 and opened on 1st January 1937. The site was purchased from the Church for £220 and the building cost about £2,100. Some 200 chairs costing an additional £200 were bought with loans, and there was further expenditure of £80. The National Council of Social Service gave a grant of £350 and lent £500 interest-free, with a requirement to repay £100 a year.
Local subscriptions and fundraising raised £1,517: about two-thirds of the cost. It is difficult to translate the figure into today's money, but wages have increased 150-fold since 1936, which indicates that in today's terms some £230,000 was raised locally.The four largest sums raised were from:
Mr G. Hayter-Hames £ 165
Gideon Webber Trust £ 163
Chagford Rectory Fete 1936 £ 152
Mrs A.F. Flower £105
Six months after opening it was reported that the Hall had paid its way and had a small balance of £2.11s 5d. There had been 13 dances in that time and the Hall had been used 74 times in those 6 months. Today, the Hall is used over 50 times a month.
From the outset, the Hall incorporated a 'Reading Room' which in due course became a Devon County Council branch library, and remains so.
There are few records or recollections available about the Hall's first fifty years, other than that in the 1950s the fairly cheap wooden roof shingles had to be replaced with slates.
The building remained largely unchanged until 1991 when, partially assisted by a legacy from the late Harry Rihll, it was extended with a flat-roofed extension at the rear to expand the Library space with the added 'Rihll Room', and provide improved toilets. During the 1990s the original metal-and-canvas stacking chairs were gradually replaced, and in 1995 the building was further extended at the side to provide the large kitchen.
Since 2017, the toilets and bar have been totally rebuilt, the foyer extended, the main roof has been repaired, the exterior and interior repainted, and new fire alarms and fire doors and a Hearing Loop have been fitted. The large gas cooker has been replaced and an extractor fan fitted, along with a second cooker and a dishwasher.