An ambitious plan to breathe new life into an old toy shop in Ayr is underway.
Robert Singer and daughter Saskia, who run Narture bakery and artisan café on Ayr’s Cathcart Street and Sandgate, are launching their latest project at the old Toy Town on Newmarket Street which has been shut for over a decade.
The huge space will be revamped into the Peoples Art School – a hub for all things culture and creative.
The Narture team hope to utilise the space with art exhibitions, gigs, comedy, theatre, poetry, yoga and various workshops.
And they want to extend their current café offerings by including a deli, street foods and micro-herb growing at the Newmarket Street unit.
The above flats are also currently being renovated into Airbnb rentals, with a private function room also on the cards to rent out, with funds going back into the art school.
Robert told Ayrshire Live: “It is a massive project and I’ve never made apologies for that.
“You’re not going to change the town without a big vision and that big vision needs to prove it’s got merit and I think that’s what we’ve done. It’s to give people a foothold in their own shire.
“There’s some famous names who haven’t ‘made it’ in Ayr and have had to go to Glasgow or elsewhere.”
Saskia, 27, who grew up in Ayr and went to art school in Dundee, said for her the project is “serendipitous”.
She said: “It wouldn’t have happened if Covid didn’t happen because I was [away in Dundee] doing other things.
“It’ll be across all the arts – poetry, dance, film, theatre, everything.”
The Peoples Art School is projected to employ 12 people next year and up to 50 the following year.
Both Robert and Saskia paid their way through art school via hospitality jobs, bringing about their creation of the bakery and café to see a fusion of arts and catering.
“I wanted to go to art school when I was a teenager and had to get a ‘proper job’ which was catering,” Robert said.
“And rather than feed directors and shareholders, it should feed the artists – that’s the whole concept.
“We have worked really hard. We made a major project on the Sandgate, making that space viable during lockdown and making it into a place that people look and say, ‘what’s happening there?’”
Saskia said of the Narture artisan café: “People can actually have a say on the aesthetics and what’s served.
“There’s not a lot of jobs, even on management side, where you get that autonomy or decision-making, so it’s good having a team where we want everyone's ideas.”
Narture CIC (Community Interest Company) is now holding a consultation to find out what the public would like to see in the space. Click here to fill out the survey.
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