This was one of the finest building's ever to be built in Bridgwater in 1886 in honour of George Williams the founder of the Y.M.C.A.

Although the original site for the building was the site of the Mansion House but the Bridgwater Corporation would not sell the building saying the £800 offered for the building was not enough and the site of the Globe Hotel which was destroyed by fire was eventually chosen

The Ceremony of the laying of all six foundation stone's was on the Saturday 11th September 1886.

It was officially opened at 1pm on the 6th October 1887 by Mr William Creese.

It was closed in 1967 and then finally demolished in April 1968

Milestone for Y.M.C.A in 1967

The first phase of Bridgwater’s new Y.M.C.A building at Friarn Meadow to be known as George Williams House was opened on Saturday 11 November by Viscount Amory, Chairman of the Y.M.C.A. council.

One of the speakers at the ceremony Mr W.M. Manaton (regional secretary) told a large audience that a deputation had to go to the Department of Education and Science in London before they could make a start on the first stage of the £60,000 building.

For a while they found themselves in a position where they had sold the George Williams Memorial Hall in Eastover and had nowhere else to go. Now they are wondering when they will be able to go ahead with the second and third stages of the project.

New £4.3 Million YMCA building opens

The new state of the art YMCA opened as a youth and community hub in October 2010.

6 October 2011

His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent flew in by helicopter to officially open the new YMCA building.

Around 200 guests gathered at the YMCA as the Duke of Kent also opened a £6.2Million Gerald Townsend House for the homeless young people and multi-purpose George Williams Centre.

The George Williams Centre, also boasts a community radio station, conference rooms, office spaces and a cafe, was made possible thanks to £3.9million myplace funding from the Department for Education, administered by the Big Fund – the non-Lottery funding operation of the Big Lottery Fund.