The future of a popular community arts venue in the Wirral is looking perilous as funding is fast drying up.
A local community interest company is campaigning to save the Hope Anti-supermarket mixed-arts space from being lost to the community or turned over to a chain cooperation. The New Brighton venue is currently leased by Rockpoint Leisure CiC, who have run the space with the local community in mind, and provides opportunities for young bands to expand on their ambitions.
The venue also provides a focus point for the previously neglected Victoria Road, allowing small businesses in the area to operate in and around their large space. It was restored as part of a larger initiative by Rockpoint Leisure to regenerate the road and its surrounding areas.
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Daniel Davies, CEO of Rockpoint Leisure CIC, told the ECHO: "Before it was just a dumping ground for flytipping, for anti-social behaviour and really just another boarded-up blot on the landscape.
"The building was originally a purpose-built Kwik-save, which failed, then it went to Somerfield, which failed, then it went to Co op, which failed and then it went to another supermarket, which failed, and then it sat empty for about 6 years.
"Victoria Road, which is one of the traditional highstreets in New Brighton was just decimated, including 3 boarded-up banks, bus stops which no buses stopped at, and there was just a few businesses clinging in there.
"We wanted to try and reverse the fortunes of this once great high-street and town. The backdrop to this is that New Brighton used to be the 3rd largest sea-side town in the UK: by the time we started 4 years ago it wasn't even the 70th.
"Our idea for it was to regenerate through independent businesses to try and keep the chains out. For one, it's a big plot of land; and two, it has remote landlords who live in London. To them the building is an asset on a spreadsheet: they don't live in the community like a lot of remote landlords.
"We were in the position, knowing that if that opens as another supermarket it'd fail again, but it would also take out the green grocer that's been here for 45 years across the road, which has actually been a greengrocer since 1890. A new supermarket would take out a lot of the little shops that are clinging in there, and we want to try and protect them.
"There was a real need for a bigger venue so that lots of littler businesses could set up in and around it, and create a little eco-system."
The venue receives no outside funding. It is currently funded independently, by those who helped set it up and finances from Mr Davies past successful business exploits.
Jamie Valerio, a member of Razzmatazz, one of the first bands who the venue gave the space to perform, is someone who truly understands the value of Hope Anti-Supermarket.
Mr Valerio said: "It helped my own band personally as we managed to get gigs off the back of performing at there. But there's other bands which it helps just because they get a free space to practice, and that's monumental for a young band, especially to practice on a stage.
"Our band helped to paint the place when it was first opening, and the amount of people that would come in and congratulate us on what a terrific job we're doing. I've been there from the start, I've seen everybody's opinion of the place and it just seems like an absolute waste for it to go.
"Lots of people have a lot of hopes attached to the place, myself included. The only person I've heard who is against the venue was a single old lady who came up to us when we were painting the place and said it's a sin to paint those red stones black."
The GoFundMe campaign to save the venue is underway and calls on anyone to help the venue in order for it to continue its work in providing the community's talent and small businesspeople with a space to build on their ambitions. All funds raised will be solely focused on keeping the venue open and putting on performances.
The Go-Fund me page can be found here.
