Old Hospital site becomes thriving community hub

Jessica Jeans said despite Southwold's reputation for affluence, there were lots of families which need support

A former Victorian hospital is thriving after its transformation into a community hub with a cafe, social housing, library and business space.

The Old Hospital, in Southwold on the Suffolk coast, was closed by the NHS in 2015 and subsequently bought as a community asset.

Jessica Jeans, chairwoman of the Southwold and Waveney Valley Regeneration Society, or SouthGen, which owns the site, said people did not understand the area had "quite a bit of poverty".

She said the fear was the building could have been "demolished and redeveloped as luxury housing... had we not stepped in".

An image from the new exhibition of the hospital's history, taken in the 1940s

A new exhibition about the hospital's history and staff has officially opened, charting the journey from 1898 when the vicar of St Edmund's Church proposed building a cottage hospital on land opposite the graveyard.

The Countess of Stradbroke laid the foundation stone in 1901, and it was formally opened in 1903.

The hospital was transferred to the newly formed National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, remaining in use until 2015.

SouthGen, a charitable community benefit society, partnered with Hastoe Housing Association to buy the site as an Asset of Community Value, something introduced in the Localism Act 2011.

It eventually was successful in the purchase in 2018, and after fundraising £1.4m, the redeveloped building was completed in 2022.

Display boards and artefacts will be on display telling the story of the building, with a list of known staff who worked there over its 100 years as a hospital

The building contains nine social housing flats - four are for affordable rent and five are shared ownership, prioritising people with a local connection to the area.

Rissa Glendinning lives in one of the flats and also works in the café.

Before moving to the Old Hospital, she lived in Beccles with her mother-in-law after coming to the UK from the Philippines after the Covid pandemic.

She said: "My husband and I are very thankful.

"They gave me the opportunity to get this job and everyone here was so nice to me and I feel like they're all my family."

Rissa Glendinning said working in the café felt like being part of a family

The redevelopment of the Old Hospital also provided a new home for Southwold Library.

Its former building on North Green had been built as an Assembly Hall in about 1900.

Charlotte Clark, executive library manager, said: "It's made a huge difference because we've got a lot of other things going on in the building with the rest of what the Old Hospital do that knits in very nicely what we do - with children, with people in the community if they're isolated and want a bit more interaction.

"I was very fond of the old library, but between the chilliness and the mice I haven't missed it.

"We've got an area that's got lots of expensive houses in it, but that doesn't mean everyone's a millionaire that lives round here, so it's a hub for everyone, really, which is lovely."

Charlotte Clark in the library's children's area, says their work fits well with the community programmes run by SouthGen

Community projects currently run at the Old Hospital Hub:

• Summer holiday club for children aged 5-10 years

• Pay-it-forward scheme in the café

• An allotment providing outdoor education and food for the café

• Pay-what-you-can Sunday lunch once a month

• Family Tea Club, every Thursday in term time, including a free meal

• Opportunities for regular volunteering.

The Old Hospital Hub in the sunshine in 2025