AN internationally acclaimed painter who exhibited his work in Bishop's Castle Town Hall during Charter Week in July 1973 returns to the same building for another show 43 years later. In those days Robert Bates’ exquisitely detailed watercolours were hung from the coat pegs, but four decades on Bishop's Castle Town Hall has a light and airy gallery space in the newly renovated building. The exhibition runs from November 21 to December 12 with opening times 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday.

Robert Bates was born in Wolverhampton. He studied fine art in Birmingham and at the Royal College of Art in London. He has exhibited regularly, most frequently in London with 12 one-man shows at the Lumley Cazalet Gallery. In the United States there have been one-man shows at the Hom Gallery, Washington DC and Chivian-Cobb, New York. In Ireland there have been one-man shows at the National Gallery of Ireland, Wellspring Gallery, Tralee and The Molesworth Gallery in Dublin, which currently holds his work. His most recent exhibition was in June 2015 at the Silk Top Hat Gallery in Ludlow where they also showed ‘In the Making’ a film made for BBC television about his work as a miniaturist. His work features in the collections of The British Museum, The National Trust Foundation for Art, The Arts Council of Great Britain, The British Council, The National Gallery of Victoria, The South London Art Gallery, The McNay Institute, Texas and Dept. Foreign Affairs Dublin as well as private collections all over the world. Robert left Bishop's Castle in 1985 and lived in Ireland for 21 years before returning to live in Shropshire. Call 01588 630023. There is a lift up to the gallery on the top floor of the Town Hall.