A FORMER takeaway in Partington has had a complete overhaul and become a new community hub, food bank and second-hand uniform store.

The Hope Centre on Wood Lane opened its doors for the first time on Friday 25 June and has an affordable fresh food store, help and referral services, meeting space, second-hand uniform shop and general shop inside.

The team at The Hideaway, a local community and educational play centre, is behind the plans, and the former takeaway was transformed with the help of Your Housing Group, maintenance teams at fix360, contractors Travis Perkins and ENGIE, as well as Trafford Housing Trust’s foundation.

The site is set to be a community hub where residents can go to get everything they need in terms of supplies and support.

Labour’s shadow education secretary and MP for Stretford and Urmston Kate Green officially opened the site last week.

When the first lockdown in March 2020 began The Hideaway launched The Hope Centre out of their previous work space. It quickly became one of Trafford’s designated community hubs.

Throughout the pandemic The Hope Centre has supported and coordinated the community response to the crisis, distributing food shopping, food parcels, hot meals, packed lunches and making prescription collections and well-being calls.

The team recognised that the community needed continued support from The Hope Centre as restrictions began to ease and realised they needed a new space to do this.

So Your Housing Group and Trafford Housing Trust were called in to help.

They renovated the old chicken shop takeaway with the help of Travis Perkins who provided materials, and ENGIE who provided services and materials for the external works to the building to the value of £15,000.

The rest of the project was funded by a £33,000 grant from the Trafford Housing Trust Social Investment Fund.

The new Hope Centre shop will service the community as a pantry, help and referral service, and activity spot as well as selling second-hand school uniforms.

Ruth Lancey, director of the Hideaway and The Hope Centre said: “The Hope Centre sits right at the heart of this brilliant community that is struggling against lots of issues of poverty and deprivation.

“In Partington over one third of all families were already living below the poverty line, so the pandemic has hit this area hard.

"The Hope Centre shop is all about the next stage of community response, as we move into recovery stage and start helping to rebuild our community.

“We want to make sure that every single person has access not just to the basic essentials, but to all of the services in the area that can help support them.

“We couldn’t do a project like this without support from organisations like Your Housing Group and Trafford Housing Trust.

"The only way we’ve been able to give thousands and thousands of food parcels out to the community is thanks to these organisations that have stepped up and contributed.”

Cllr Adele New, Trafford Council’s Labour representative of Partington, said: “This pandemic has shown us what a fantastic community and community spirit we have here in Partington, but it has also highlighted what we were lacking, which was a coordinated response to community services.

“Following the success of The Hope Centre as a community hub, this new shop will bring everyone together under one roof with familiar faces in the community, making it accessible to all.

“It is wonderful to see so many organisations coming together for the benefit of the community.”

Paula Marshall, director of housing and customer service at Your Housing Group, said: “We pride ourselves on being a responsible housing provider, and that commitment goes far beyond bricks and mortar, it is also about helping the wider community and creating places that support people in their lives.

“The team at The Hope Centre offer an incredible resource to this community, and we are thrilled to have been able to support them in this way.”

Larry Gold, chief executive of Trafford Housing Trust, said: “People and communities are at the heart of everything we do at Trafford Housing Trust, and we want to ensure we are doing all we can so that our residents have a great quality of life, in thriving communities.

“One of the ways we can increase the support available locally is by investing in the work of innovative groups and organisations like The Hope Centre, that are part of our communities, understand local needs and can respond flexibly to support all the residents of Partington."

The Hope Centre is now open, is volunteer led and will rely on the generosity of the community to keep the centre running.

The team are currently appealing for:

  • Suppliers willing to donate excess stock
  • Regular food bank donations
  • School uniform donations (local logo)
  • Financial donations for non-donated stock
  • Volunteers and trainers