AN ARTS centre in Oxford is celebrating paying back a £115,000 loan 21 months early after it was guaranteed by the city council.

The Old Fire Station, in George Street, borrowed the cash from Kent-based charity CAF Venturesome to establish its studio and gallery facilities in 2011.

To secure the money, the city council stepped in to say it would guarantee the loan, taking on liability for it.

But this week bosses at the Old Fire Station said the centre’s success over the last three years had meant they had paid it back earlier than the target of August 2016.

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Director Jeremy Spafford said: “We have managed to do that because people are coming to the Old Fire Station, buying tickets, watching shows and buying things in our shop.

“On top of that we have attracted support from various trusts and foundations.

“When we first opened I think some people had doubt about whether it would work, but I think we have shown it is now a really popular space that does a lot of constructive work.”

In addition to putting on arts activities and shows, the Old Fire Station also provides education and training for the homeless, with Crisis Skylight.

It shares the building with the charity and has helped organise exhibitions with those it helps, as well as work placements and volunteer schemes.

The city council, which owns the building, allows the organisations to rent it free of charge.

Mr Spafford said in the last year the centre had raised about £200,000. He added: “The city council made a very shrewd decision in backing us and it was a sign that they believed in what we were doing.

“By helping us get that loan it gave us the confidence to get going and now we have a brilliant centre that people in Oxford love.”

City council leader Bob Price said the success meant the local authority would not rule out similar arrangements with other groups in future.

He said: “We knew they had a very good chance of paying back this money, but doing it so quickly shows how successful they have been.

“The quality of what they do there is very high and the link with Crisis has also worked well.

“If we had a similar kind of request from an organisation with the same track record and business acumen then we could certainly consider something like it again.

“Although it is not something we do often, we are very pleased with how this turned out.”

 

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