Originally the Mayor's Banqueting Room, then the Refreshment Room, the Reception Room is now used for events that would be too small for the Festival Hall and also as an additional dressing / green room for productions held in the Albert Hall.
The arch above the connecting door to the Blue Room at one end of the chamber contains the original, unofficial Arms of Bolton at the apex, the Arms of the County Palatine of Lancaster to the left and, perhaps more surprisingly, the Arms of the City of Manchester to the right.
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A cold fire...
The Reception Room is to a large extent an empty, but very adaptable space with little in the way of permanent furnishings of its own. It does however, contain a slightly eccentric blank stone fireplace with a carved wooden surround,
that in turn houses a clock.
Framed on the wall above the mantlepiece is the 1958 version of the Arms of Bolton that was displayed on the banner above the
Mayor's chair in the Council Chamber before 1974.
Through the looking glass...
The most impressive feature of the room is a large, panelled mirror, on the end wall, ornately moulded and decorated (inevitably) with elephants.
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