How the Old Fire Station in Gipton became a community hub

It may still look like a fire station on the outside but inside it’s a hive of community activity.
A young boy gives The Old Fire Station in Gipton a thumbs up.A young boy gives The Old Fire Station in Gipton a thumbs up.
A young boy gives The Old Fire Station in Gipton a thumbs up.

The Old Fire Station (TOFS) in Gipton is home to six charities which help people all over Leeds. It is also a venue for a whole host of socially-inclusive activities and a place where businesses and groups can hire event space.

Gipton Fire Station, which dates back to 1937, shut operationally in 2015 when firefighters moved to Killingbeck. Over the next two years the building was transformed into a community and enterprise hub using money bequeathed by Leeds entrepreneur Jimi Heselden. He left money to be specifically spent on projects in his beloved East Leeds.

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Several old features from the building’s firefighting days have been retained, like the fireman’s poles. There are also some nice decorative touches, which hark back to its former use.

OPEN DAY: Vintage fire vehicles outside The Old Fire Station, Gipton in June 2018. The venue in East Leeds is a community and enterprise hub.OPEN DAY: Vintage fire vehicles outside The Old Fire Station, Gipton in June 2018. The venue in East Leeds is a community and enterprise hub.
OPEN DAY: Vintage fire vehicles outside The Old Fire Station, Gipton in June 2018. The venue in East Leeds is a community and enterprise hub.

TOFS development manager Fran Etherington said: “We turned one of the fire engine bays into a cafe and the other one into Leeds Cookery School.”

Fire buckets have been repurposed into lampshades and a ‘fire engine red’ colour scheme runs throughout the building.

The former fire station has charity tenants like GIPSIL and Zest, who made the approach to Leeds Community Foundation about saving the building for community use.

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GIPSIL works with children, young people and families from the city’s most disadvantaged communities to realise their potential. Its property maintenance arm, Elevate, which also provides volunteer placements and apprenticeships, is also based at TOFS.

An infographic showing who uses The Old Fire Station. Image by Lizzie Coombes.An infographic showing who uses The Old Fire Station. Image by Lizzie Coombes.
An infographic showing who uses The Old Fire Station. Image by Lizzie Coombes.

Charity Zest also offers support and opportunity to people living in disadvantaged areas of Leeds. Its sister project is the Leeds Cookery School, a social enterprise which is also housed at TOFS. Other tenants include People in Action and Barnardo’s Willow Young Carers.

On top of that, TOFS stages a range of popular classes, like Zumba on a Tuesday and Sunday, a cinema club, the Tuesday lunchtime board games group and a sewing class - all of which help bring people together.

Fran said she had witnessed many instances of socially-isolated people who went on to develop a network of fiends after coming along to TOFS. They may be nervous to begin with but they soon find someone to talk to.

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She added: “It’s all about getting the message across that we are for East Leeds, for the community.”

BOSS: Development manager Fran Etherington, pictured third left, at a Christmas do.BOSS: Development manager Fran Etherington, pictured third left, at a Christmas do.
BOSS: Development manager Fran Etherington, pictured third left, at a Christmas do.

A lot of work has been done to make the project self-sufficient and not dependent on funding. Fran added: “Everything we do is about making sure that we are sustainable, so we can be here for the community for years and years and years. The last thing we want to do is to pop up and then disappear.”

She urged people to pop in to the building on Gipton Approach to find out how it can help them.

Fran also wants the business community to consider them as an ethical events space. One of the ways to support TOFS’ future is by renting one of its many meeting rooms and events spaces. She added: “Any business or group with a conscience that wants not just to be paying for meeting room space will know that the money is going to go back directly into the community and to people in the area who really need the support.”

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The Old Fire Station (TOFS) is seen as a model of how to transform a building into community use.

The former firefighting hub now has a number of roles. It is home to a number of not for profit organisations, which work with people in need and provide services and support to them.

Another key element is as “a space where local people can come to socialise, access support and simply relax and have fun. An opportunity for children and young people, adults and older people to maximise their potential, improve their well being and quality of life under one roof”.

The project’s vision is to create a “thriving, welcoming and self sustaining community hub in East Leeds”.

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One of the ways it funds its activities is by hiring out its events spaces to people and businesses.

TOFS development manager Fran Etherington said: “It’s doing well and I think people are seeing us as quite a model as to how this kind of work can be done with a building and turning it into a community hub.”

She said people’s support was vital to its success, adding: “It’s really important to us that people understand the building is for them. Please call in. Come into reception or the cafe and chat to us. Find out what’s going on. See the building as being yours.”

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