Topsham Museum Lecture: 50th Anniversary of the Guildhall Shopping Centre

In 2026 the Exeter Guildhall Shopping Centre celebrated its 50th anniversary. To mark this occasion they commissioned our speaker, Nigel Sadler, to research the history of the area, and the development of the shopping centre.

This talk will look at the process of the research undertaken and the history of the area it revealed. It illustrates how old buildings such as the Guildhall and St Pancras Church were incorporated into the development and how the shopping centre grew to become a major focus of evening life in Exeter.

Nigel Sadler began his career in 1986 as a field archaeologist, working in the Near East for 2 years. He has worked as a museum professional and consultant across multiple UK and Caribbean museums.  In 2017 he was employed by Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery to be the lead curator on the port of Plymouth gallery for their new ‘Box’ Development. He stayed in the post until mid-2018 when he was employed by Axminster Heritage Centre to lead on the content development of their new exhibition. He has since remained the part-time Manager at Axminster. He is also the volunteer Museum Curator at Ottery Museum, the town where he lives. He has led on the development of the content of the museum for its reopening after COVID.

Nigel is also a published author. This includes several academic publications related to the search and discovery of a sunken slave ship, and several books on slavery and its legacy. He has also used postcards to write books on the History of British Museums, History of British Piers, The First World War and The British West Indies. He has also written two books on the history of Ottery St Mary.