An arts venue has been given a boost after securing a grant of £50,000 towards regeneration works.

The revamp of Diss Corn Hall is part of a £3m Heritage Triangle project to completely regenerate the historic heart of the town.

The £50,000 grant, which was approved by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership's growing business fund, has bolstered the hall's renovation fund.

Diss Heritage Partnership – run by the Corn Hall Trust, Diss Town Council and Diss Museum – has already raised £1.65m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £125,000 from local people and businesses.

This new injection of cash will be used to fit out the Corn Hall, improve acoustics, seating and equipment and create a café/bar area - resulting in five new jobs.

The venue, which plays host to 160 events and around 27,000 people a year, closed in the summer for the year-long revamp work.

Since then the hall's programme has gone on tour, with events at different venues in Diss and surrounding villages.

David Case, chairman of Diss Corn Hall Trust, said: 'This is a tremendous boost and brings us close to our funding total. It is another vote of confidence in this important investment in Diss.

'By 2018 we expect to be staging almost 200 events a year and we anticipate visitor numbers rising to 60,000.'

'It will allow us to work with groups we find hard to reach such as young people, young families and the older generation.

'Funding for community arts projects such as ours is increasingly difficult, and our award of £50,000 will be crucial in helping us turn the Corn Hall into a first class venue which will serve the area for years to come.

'The support and encouragement of the town, district and county councils and the growth hub team throughout has been exceptional.'

Mr Case said: 'We will be employing two heritage and arts education staff to develop our work with young people, young families and the older generation as well as two café/bar staff and a technical manager to reinforce our tech team – who are all volunteers at the moment. We will start recruiting in spring 2016.'

Are you celebrating funding success? Email kate.royall@archant.co.uk