Tyre shop turning into Quaker meeting house

One of a city's oldest buildings is being turned into a £1.4m community hub.

Once complete, the former tyre shop on High Street West in Sunderland will be known as The Friends Meeting Place.

It will be managed by the city's Quakers who are returning to the Sunniside area of the city for the first time in over a century and who funded the renovations alongside Historic England.

Matt Moore, from Sunderland Quakers, said: "It's a good location. We wanted to be able to contribute to the regeneration of the area and this was an important opportunity to do so."

"We've always had an important presence in Sunderland and we once had a meeting house at the end of Nile Street, so it felt right to come back to the city centre."

Built in the early 1800s, the building was a bank in Victorian times and more recently a tyre salesroom and workshop.

By 2020, with much of it derelict, the Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust stepped in and undertook some initial construction work.

This latest phase had been funded by a grant of more than £900,000 from Historic England and £515,000 from the Quakers, who sold the meeting house they owned in Roker to pay for it.

The work will see the traditional shopfronts and timber sash windows restored and a room set aside for worship.

There will also be retail units and spaces which can be used by local groups and charities.

"Creating a community hub is very much part of our ethos of social action," Moore said.

One organisation which will use the building is Space North East which supports men who are lonely or have depression or anxiety.

Peter McIntyre from Sunderland City Council, said: ""Over recent years we've seen new life breathed into historic buildings such as the former Binns department store, the Elephant Tea Rooms and Mackie's Corner and this will further build on that."

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