A town hall clock which has been a source of frustration for years is now displaying the right time on all four faces.

More than £4,000 has been spent since February on repairing Letchworth Town Hall’s clock – which usually displays four different times – with it working properly for the first time on Tuesday.

The good news comes three years after the issue was first raised to North Hertfordshire District Council, which owns the building in Broadway.

During the restoration carried out by Les Kirk of Good Directions Ltd, it was discovered that some coils had burned out and the hands on the north facing dial were loose, causing them to lose time.

Cllr Terry Hone, the council’s portfolio holder for finance, said: “Letchworth’s residents are used to the town hall clock’s unusual feature of telling more than one time however we are sure they will be delighted that the mechanism has now undergone detailed refurbishment. Carried out by specialist restorers, the clock has retained its original historic features along with a modern digital mechanism which will ensure the clock will maintain the correct time even with the change of hours in spring and autumn.”

The Grade II-listed building is currently used as an admin centre by North Hertfordshire College.