Inside Levenshulme Old Library is a room decorated with smiling faces on the walls and strings of paper bird decorations hanging from the high ceilings. Tables and chairs fill the space, with a hot drink station in one corner, supplying tea, coffee, and plenty of Bourbon biscuits.
It's noticeably toasty, with an elderly woman hovering her hands over a large radiator. The community arts centre in south Manchester puts on a series of events and programmes throughout the year, but what they've currently created for each Monday is like no other.
Its purpose is to serve locals' needs, usually hosting artists with specific people in mind, such as parents with toddlers. But their 'Keep Warm Club' is where anyone who needs it can visit to literally keep warm, charge devices, or even work from - for free.
The fact the venue is having to arrange something like this to ensure its people are safe in such times of hardship doesn't feel real to be a thing of 2022, and instead a dystopia from times gone by.
Building manager Richard Hirst, 40, agrees and says they're in 'survival mode'.
"I think everybody would rather not be in this situation," he begins.
"We would much rather be going, 'here's something exciting going on' - there could be an artist given a commission.
"It all feels very… survival mode; it feels quite bleak.
"Supporting people in need is a big part of our ethos and no matter how good things are going, there are always some people who are getting the short straw in society.
"But the things that people are going through in this country at the moment are unprecedented and it's not the regular way society usually operates."
While sometimes they might host events to support the homeless or be looking for ways to help those who need it most, Richard now has ordinary people who own houses and have jobs asking him about the Keep Warm Club, and parents of children who go to his kid's school.
"People who have not felt like they're the people in need or needing support, now a lot of them are," he explains on the reality of the current state of Britain.
"People I've spoken with go, 'Oh this sounds good. I've got a job, but I'm really stretching to make ends meet' or 'I work from home on Mondays - I'm just on my computer doing my job.'
"I don't know how much they earn or what their circumstances are, but having a job doesn't mean you're not someone who's financially in need, necessarily.
"It doesn't mean that you're someone who's sheltered from all that stuff.
"Now, you could easily be in work, very busy, but also in poverty or at risk of going into poverty."
The group behind Levenshulme Old Library CIO, which saw local residents take over five years ago when it closed as a library, are looking to open up the space on other days to better cater for those who can't make the start of the week.
The idea came about after they clubbed together to think of ways to best serve the biggest issue right now - with households struggling to pay disgustingly expensive energy bills.
They'd also seen other areas run similar clubs across the country.
"We've got this need where people are struggling to pay for their energy bills, they're struggling to just be in their houses, unheated for a period of time during the day," Richard adds.
"It feels like a tip of the iceberg where the broader problem of people's energy bills, people's finances, becomes a lot more unstable.
"Along with this backdrop of political confusion where things seem to change so rapidly that it's hard to plan anything and it feels like you don't know what's going to happen in a month or two."
Richard is also keen to have some sort of artist or workshop take up the room to make it less functional. A board game designer is currently interested in using it to test models and see how people respond.
"We're thinking about ways to bring them into the space that isn't too off-putting because people sometimes want to be left alone. But then also something to attract people in; it's getting that balance."
At the time of my visit, there was just one woman there - Bridget O'Dwyer, 73 - who had been warming her hands over the radiator for the past few hours.
The retired pensioner, who wished not to be pictured, would usually spend her Mondays at home, wrapped up in two padded lumber jackets or out food shopping.
She took up the offer of Keep Warm Club after she received a letter through the post from Manchester Cares - which tackles loneliness and isolation across the city by bringing older and younger neighbours together - advertising various activities and groups.
Bridget, who doesn't live far away, walked to the Old Library and arrived for its opening at 9.30am.
"I thought it was a really good idea and a unique idea," she says.
"Energy bills rising does worry me. I think lots of people are worried. It's astronomical now the way things are going and I don't understand it."
She's had to limit how many biscuits she can have because of her diabetes and although she hasn't spoken to another soul except for myself and Richard, she wants to give it another go next week, hoping there will be a few more people to interact with.
Richard says they've been running the club for four weeks now, but they're still working on how to get the message out and for people to not feel a stigma in going.
He assures they operate on a 'no questions asked' basis, with no criteria to meet or application form - it's a space built on trust.
And if there is a growing demand for the number of chairs, they'll make it work.
"I'm always very keen to let people know that nobody takes away from anybody else by asking for help," Richard adds.
Last week, five people turned up, but he reckons it'll get a lot busier when the colder weather kicks in.
"We have had this unseasonable weather and I think it's helped a lot of people in terms of their energy bills," he says.
"But I do think when we start getting into November, December, particularly January when people are starting to think more about their finances that have been used up over Christmas…
"I expect it to become busier. I think the whole situation will be a lot more real for a lot more people."
For more information, head to Levenshulme Old Library's website here https://levenshulmeoldlibrary.org.uk/2022/10/10/keep-warm-club/ and for more information on help with your energy bills, head to the Government website on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-bills-support/energy-bills-support-factsheet-8-september-2022
Do you have a story to share? Please get in touch at saffron.otter@reachplc.com
