Newson Garrett was converted into the Snape Maltings Concert Hall, which has become the principal venue for the annual Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts. Newson Garrett Newson Garrett (31 July 1812 – 4 May 1893) was a maltster, instrumental in the revival of the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, of which he became mayor at the end of his life. Two of his daughters became famous as women's rights activists. Born in Leiston in Suffolk, Garrett was the grandson of Richard Garrett, who founded the agricultural machinery works at Leiston, and Elizabeth Newson, after whom he was named. Newson was the
Snape Maltings Thirty acres of land was offered for sale, including dwellings and an inn. It was difficult to imagine how such functional structures could be put to different use. However George Gooderham, a local farmer and businessman, recognised the potential. He purchased the site and set about finding alternative uses for the buildings. By the 1960s the Aldeburgh Music Festival was outgrowing the limited space available in the Jubilee Hall. Benjamin Britten started to look around for somewhere to build a concert hall. Britten had the vision to see the largest Malthouse, in its magnificent setting overlooking the saltings as a