Sunniside up! Work advances on restoration of historic building

A project to restore some of Sunderland's most historic buildings is breathing new life into another key city site.

Contractor, True North, is now well underway with work on the restoration of the former Tyre Shop at 177 High Street West, marking a major milestone in the ongoing regeneration of Sunniside.

Once complete, the building will become The Friends Meeting Place, a multi-use community hub featuring new retail units and a flexible events space, managed by the Sunderland Quakers who will return to Sunniside for the first time in over a century.

Led by the Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust, the regeneration of the building has been supported by funding from Historic England, who have committed £923,208 along with significant investment from the Quakers, and will further build on the success of the Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) project - a scheme led and funded by Sunderland City Council and Historic England to restore some of the city's most cherished buildings to their original grandeur.

The investment will conserve and revitalise the early 19th-century building, bringing it back into active use and restoring key architectural features including traditional shopfronts and timber sash windows. It will also see if join the new 75-home Nile + Villiers Street community which is being established on the same site.

Peter McIntyre, executive director of economy and place at Sunderland City Council, said: "It's fantastic to see work finally get underway on the redevelopment of the Grade-II listed former Tyre Shop.

"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, by restoring another city centre building to its former grandeur."

The Quakers, whose history of meeting in Sunderland stretches back to the 1650s and membership has included prominent figures such as members of the Binns and Backhouse families, have signed a long leasehold interest on the building.

As well as providing meeting space for its group - and others - to get together, there will also be sub-let workspace and retail units for social enterprises and independent businesses who are seeking to capitalise on the ongoing regeneration of the area.

Matt Moore, at Sunderland Quakers said, "Refurbishing this building and becoming part of the wonderful community of Sunniside has been a real joy.

"We formerly had a Meeting House on Nile Street and moving to High Street West is a homecoming for us. When we sold our last meeting House in Roker, we wanted to move to the centre of Sunderland and play a positive part in its regeneration. We feel we are achieving that and can't wait to develop this further when the building work is finished."

The former Tyre Shop is the latest in a string of buildings in Sunniside to have been restored and with further developments underway including the Sunniside Leisure complex, 75-home Nile + Villiers Street community and George Clarke's book shop, Peter McIntrye believes Sunniside is fast becoming one of the North East's most attractive city centre neighbourhoods.

He added: "The excitement around the regeneration of Sunniside is palatable. People from across the region are starting to see what's happening and it's leading to more investment in this area than ever before.

"From George Clarke's new bookshop to Sunniside Social, there's a real buzz returning to this part of the city and it's showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. Long may it continue."

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