Town's new performance venue 'ready by spring'

Artist images have been shared showing how the foyer linking the three main buildings will look when complete

The man leading a £7.1m project to create a new performance venue and meeting space in Ashbourne says it will be finished next spring.

Three church buildings on the corner of Church Street and Station Road are being refurbished and connected by a central foyer to create The Link Centre.

It is being funded by levelling up funding from the government and forms part of the second phase of the Ashbourne Reborn regeneration project.

Project leader Tony Walker said construction work should be completed by May and "we can see the end now".

Project leader Tony Walker said work should be complete in May

The project has involved Ashbourne's Methodist Church being refurbished and linked to Century Hall on Station Road.

A tourist hostel underneath the church's main hall is being refurbished too and there will also be a community garden opposite the buildings near the River Henmore.

"It has been a huge challenge," said Mr Walker. "We have had planning challenges, we have had technical building challenges - but it is magnificent the support we have had from the community. So many people are welcoming this.

"We are at an exciting stage of this. We have seen inside the church and it will be wonderful."

"We can see the end now. The end is five months away of the construction and then we will be equipping it and we will be getting ready to operate it."

The new centre will include a community garden

Mr Walker added the new centre would be run by a mixture of paid staff and volunteers once it opens.

"There is nowhere else in Ashbourne that can provide this quality of performance venue for over 300 people," he said.

"We believe it will be a major contribution to the town."