THE fate of the crumbling Mechanics' Institute remains a mystery two months after the new owner was to be revealed.

Old Town property agents Alder King confirmed the 149-year-old Grade II* listed building in the heart of Swindon's Railway Village had been sold to an unnamed London-based private development company.

That was in February, but three months later Swindon people are still awaiting news on who owns the building, what its short-term future is and whether it will become residential and commercial accommodation.

The Evening Advertiser exclusively revealed the building had been sold and was told the owner's identity would be revealed in late March. But in spite of repeated messages left with Peter Barefoot, the man brokering the sale, nobody knows what is happening to the former Great Western Railway community centre.

The New Mechanics' Preservation Trust spokeswoman, Martha Parry, said: "I'm utterly dismayed because there is no paper evidence of anything happening at all.

"It's all very well saying there is a new owner, but Swindon people deserve to know what is happening to their single greatest historical treasure."

In March the Advertiser gained a rare glimpse of the inside of the building and published the first interior photograph for many years. The curved ceiling of the reading room is crumbling and the walls are rotting away, while piles of wood, syringes and beer cans sit on the floor.

Mr Barefoot cited "legal complications" as a reason for the new owner's anonymity.

Previous owners, Stroud-based Mountmead Limited, off-loaded the building in February and Hillingdon-based Quest Corporation Limited were said to have bought the Institute, but that has since been denied.

Chris Smith, assistant director of English Heritage South West region, said: "The Mechanics' Institute is a matter of great concern to us.

"It's the threat of vandalism rather than the weather that needs to be resolved."