THE STORY SO FAR

the right spot

Team Spot galvanised in 2023 driven by the need to find a new home for the Ulverston Food Project following the closure of the Church Walk Parish Rooms.  We joined forces with other community groups also struggling for space and fundraising began in earnest to buy The Old Mart, a fabulously-central  & spacious building on Victoria Road.


The Community Ownership Fund was in our sights but this Government pot closed in the week we were poised to submit our bid!  It felt like that might be the end of it but everyone rallied and local companies who had committed to help match-fund our bid, leapt in with larger donations to save the day and meet the £400,000 asking price.


The purchase was made possible with support from High Winds, the community renewable energy society that runs five wind turbines above Ulverston alongside critical backing from CGP, the Broughton-based educational publishers who support so many local good causes.

Ulverston BID and Ulverston Town Council also generously supported The Spot with grants and 167 individuals raised over £5,300 via our Crowdfunder. 


Thanks to such brilliant support, we got the keys in February 2025. The journey then began to transform this old industrial building into a welcoming, accessible space for our community, somewhere we've christened The Spot, the place to be...

...and a name we hope will avoid any Mart-based confusion between our Old Mart, built 1878, and the 'new' Ulverston Auction Mart created to replace it on North Lonsdale Road in 1962.

SPOT STARTERS

Our founding tenant Digital Woodoo rapidly got started in March 2025, using part of the space to grow their Ulverston-born business making WikiHouse timber prefab buildings. It's been invaluable to have a community-minded commercial tenant in the Spot mix. As well as helping us cover the building’s costs, they've been supporting the activities we've had in the building so far, providing a cutting table for the Ulverston Flag Festival, lending tools & their time and making our classy wooden A Board.

Woodoo wood power will also play a role in our building rennovations during the company's three-year tenancy.

using our unrenovated space

With volunteer DIY graft we swiftly got the building into a useable state, albeit in an unheated, rough-round-the-edges way.

The first public Flag Fest sewing sessions since 2019 led to a record number of banners flying in 2025.
And Westmorland & Furness Council's Adult Education service was able to begin courses in Ulverston again, with art and textile classes and handy sessions helping people use their smartphones and the NHS app.  Furness Morris ran taster sessions and managed to recruit more dancers to keep them jigging on. Bay 2 hosted lead lantern building with giant Jarvis Cocker emerging to viral acclaim to join the 2025 music-themed Lantern Festival. It was a busy summer until the chill became too much and we shut-up shop after Halloween to begin the major building works that will start a new chapter for The Old Mart.

 

and we have lift-off! thank you GSK!

In August '25 we received the fabulous news that our application to the GSK Taskforce was successful and that The Spot and Ford Park would share the GSK Legacy fund, a £2m parting gift to the town where they began producing life-saving antibiotics in 1948. 

Thanks to the fabulous GSK funding we're now going to be able to:

- Give The Old Mart a new, insulated roof;

- Replace all the aged electrics;

- Install new heating;

- And refurbish it to make it a welcoming, sustainable, accessible community building.

When we’re done we’ll have:

- a purpose-built base for the Ulverston Food Project so they’re able to continue to support those in food poverty and save food from landfill;

- Office space for support services including Citizens Advice;

- Spaces for hire for community use including a hall, classroom plus of course a kitchen + toilets.

Facilities that we hope will underpin a thriving hub, meeting The Spot's objective of ‘Creating Community’ - supporting those in need, enabling creativity, festivals and community art & helping people be healthy and well.

If all goes according to plan, we hope to have the Food Project in towards the end of summer.

The full re-opening including the hall space we think will take a little longer, likely towards the end of 2026.

We’ll keep you posted as we go on this building journey to a roomier future where Ulverston has a new place to meet, make and be.

THANK YOU to all those who have helped us get this far!

THE FUNDRAISING CONTINUES

The more we raise the more we can do so our CROWDFUNDER page remains live or you can contact us about supporting our work at thespotulverston@gmail.com.

This is a community initiative and your support, however small, is what it’s all about. And support isn’t just about money. If you have ideas that could benefit this project, then please share them and don't forget to BECOME A FRIEND.