If you were in the cells at Dover Town Hall two centuries ago, you could be transported to Australia to break rocks.

It was 12 hours a day of hard labour on the other side of the world just for stealing a loaf of bread.

But by next year those in the cells will face nothing more than a nice cup of tea, and maybe a slice of cake.

Because the historic site, which has always been known as Maison Dieu, is enjoying a £10.5m restoration co-led by Dover District Council (DDC) ahead of its reopening next spring.

And as part of the plan, the old Dover Town Gaol area is being transformed into a cafe with the original cells used as cosy little dining rooms for small groups.

Last week, our reporter was given a tour of the 800-year-old town hall to see what is being done to restore it.

The prison at the site was used from 1835 to 1878 and defendants faced the hardest Victorian punishments.

Martin Crowther, the Maison Dieu engagement officer, said that in Victorian times those committing the pettiest offences were brutally punished as a deterrent.

“For stealing a loaf of bread, or two silver spoons from a Dover hotel, you could be imprisoned and transported for seven years’ hard labour in Australia,” he explained.

“That could be breaking rocks for 12 hours a day and, if you were lucky enough to survive, you probably couldn't afford the fare back to Britain.

"When we reopen the building there'll be a cafe/bistro, which will incorporate probably about half a dozen of the Victorian prison cells.

“These will be little snugs where you can sit and have a quiet drink, maybe for half a dozen people. I think it's something that will really appeal to people.”

The eatery will also have a main dining area in what had been the neighbouring visitor information centre in recent decades.

Other parts of the jail area will be let out to commercial enterprises.

The Maison Dieu courtroom’s fixtures and fittings will be kept to retain a historic stamp and is expected to be used for events such as public debates, plus as a bar.

It had originally been a medieval chapel, up until the time of Henry VIII in the 16th century. It then became a pilgrims’ hospital.

Mr Crowther said: “Its main function is going to be a place where people who are using the building as an events venue can relax.

“This is a splendid room that very much sings of the history of the building.”

The Maison Dieu’s council chamber was used by local authorities in their various forms from the 1850s until the last major local government reorganisation in 1974.

As a smaller room it is expected to be used for wedding ceremonies or smaller-scale functions.

But the main part of the Maison Dieu is the gigantic Connaught Hall.

It was used for events over the centuries such as large-scale public meetings, major stage shows such as pantomimes, classical concerts, tea dances, election counts and sporting events such as wrestling matches.

Several of these are expected to come back, plus weddings, when the giant room is due to reopen to the public next April.

“It will hopefully host a mixture of private events, ticketed events,” venue manager Aimee Langley said.

“We've got wrestling returning, there'll be weddings, you name it we're open for any and all events.

“Nothing is off the cards and the more the merrier. We're hoping it's an event venue for all.”

Some centuries-old parts of the hall are being re-exposed, such as panelling by the Victorian architect William Burges.

Several parts of the hall will be accessible to the public and redundant sections will be available for commercial use.

The original private mayor’s parlour is expected to become a holiday let.

Laura Stroud, the hall’s sales and events co-ordinator, said: “We've got various spaces. For example, The Landmark Trust (a building conservation charity) has now taken over the mayor's parlour, and that will be accommodation for the public to be able to stay in through the week.”

Work to restore the Grade I-listed building and scheduled monument began in autumn 2022.

DDC then appointed Coniston Ltd, of Dartford, a specialist in conserving and restoring heritage and listed buildings, to lead the work.

It is the most ambitious historic building conservation project by the council and is seen as a key part of the regeneration of the town centre.

Restoration work also involved removing and storing some 40,000 historical artefacts, including paintings, military colours, and arms and armour from the Royal Armouries.

There will also be a new street-level visitor entrance to Connaught Hall, along with improved access throughout the building.

The project is also co-led by Dover Town Council and the civic group the Dover Society.

It has been aided by a £4.27 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Maison Dieu, or House of God, was founded in the early 1200s by Hubert de Burgh and passed to King Henry III in 1227.

The earliest surviving part of the building, the chapel, was consecrated in his presence.

It was built as a medieval hospital and used by pilgrims journeying from continental Europe to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

From the 16th century, the Maison Dieu was subsequently used as a victualling yard supplying ships of the Royal Navy.

In the mid-19th century, the architect Ambrose Poynter extensively restored the building, with Burges as by the up-and-coming Gothic revival architect.

The Maison Dieu is the only intact building in England still containing his decorative scheme, furniture and fittings.

Our reporter’s memories of the Maison Dieu building

Here, Sam Lennon recalls his assignments at the Maison Dieu over the decades…

“You had to keep pinching yourself to see if you were still awake.”

So summed up colleague John Mitchell after hearing harrowing and unbelievable evidence during the inquest into the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster at Dover Town Hall.

My most poignant experience of covering a story there was through shadowing him as a trainee on the final day on October 8, 1987.

The jury then returned verdicts on each of the 193 deaths from the ferry capsize that March.

In almost all cases the foreman chillingly repeated the same two words to coroner Richard Sturt: “Unlawful killing.”

The Town Hall had become a scene for the aftermath of the most terrible episode in Dover’s post-war history.

From the 1980s to the present decade I have walked up its steep steps for an array of events: public meetings, court hearings, stage shows and election counts.

One of the most fiery moments I witnessed was when a local businessman locked horns with the district council leader during a heated public debate on Dover’s future, on March 1, 1988.

“This is a democracy, not a dictatorship,” John Ullmann shouted to Paul Watkins as tempers in the giant Connaught Hall rose.

Mr Ullmann's community in River was already at loggerheads with the council over plans to build houses on the village's recreation ground.

“I look forward to seeing what the refurbished version will be like…”

The late Mr Ullmann was well-known in the town as an outspoken businessman with a heartbreaking past.

As a German Jew he had fled to England from the Nazi regime in 1938, aged 12. His family later perished in the Holocaust.

He gave me a detailed interview about that in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

I went to magistrates’ court cases in the Town Hall until hearings were moved to a purpose-built courthouse in Pencester Road in December 1987.

The first case I heard at the hall, that autumn, was of a man trying to smuggle goshawks, rare birds of prey, into this country.

There was a tradition of reporters carving their names on the press bench, right back to the 1930s.

One was legendary Dover journalist the late Terry Sutton. He also wrote the year he began his career, 1949.

Most commonly, as an entertainments correspondent, I regularly went to the Maison Dieu to review shows by amateur dramatics groups.

These were mainly by Dover Operatic and Dramatic Society (DODS) and my first review for them was The Pirates of Penzance, on May 12, 1987.

The man with the lead role, Peter Booth, made it on stage with a bandage on his arm. He had shortly before been burned in a cooking accident at home.

The heat from the stage lights intensified his pain but he never fluffed a note when he sang.

By the way, I had to write the review up for deadline in the office that night, on my 23rd birthday.

Instead of celebrating with friends I was alone in an office clunking on a noisy typewriter.

Many happy returns and welcome to the world of local newspapers.

Election counts were common at the hall and the last I remember covering there was the Kent County Council poll on May 4, 2017.

Connaught Hall was used for the counting tables and we in the press were restricted to the balconies above it and the Stone Hall next door.

Dover voters then contributed to the Conservatives trampling over their rivals, winning 67 of the 81 available seats across Kent, a record-breaking margin.

Ukip, which had made a surge in 2013 by winning 17 countywide seats, lost all of them this time.

With such a backlog of memories of Dover Town Hall, I look forward to seeing what the refurbished version will be like.