 Oldham 's Old Town Hall is a Grade II listed Georgian neo @-@ classical town hall built in 1841 , eight years before Oldham received its borough status . One of the last purpose @-@ built town halls in northwest England , it has a <unk> <unk> portico , copied from the temple of Ceres , on the River <unk> , near Athens . Winston Churchill made his inaugural acceptance speech from the steps of the town hall when he was first elected as a Conservative MP in 1900 . A Blue Plaque on the exterior of the building commemorates the event . Long existing as the political centre of the town , complete with <unk> , the structure has stood empty since the mid @-@ 1980s and has regularly been earmarked for redevelopment as part of regeneration project proposals , but none have been <unk> . 
