Future Premises – The on-going search continues…
Trying to find a suitable and affordable premises in Salisbury has been a long and frustrating process.
Towards the end of 2022, we thought we had found the ideal location for our Salisbury EcoHub. 47 Blue Boar Row, which many will remember as the former Lloyds Pharmacy, had been empty for many months, and belonged to Salisbury City Council. Opposite the front of the Guildhall, it couldn’t be more centrally located, with big windows and plenty of space in the downstairs shop part. We therefore contacted the council and arranged a site visit.
Unfortunately, the old chemist’s shop was not the simple proposition it appeared. Behind and joined onto it are what remains of the ancient Blue Boar Inn, circa 1447, including a former stables and other buildings, all of which were owned by the council and are listed buildings in need of substantial and costly repair. The whole property had been a white elephant for years, which had passed from the old Salisbury District Council to Wiltshire Council, and then back to Salisbury City Council. The City Council had tried to sell the place a few years previously, but the best offer they received was one pound. Nobody knew what to do with it, and meanwhile it fell into more dereliction.
Our interest forced the council into a decision, but rather than letting us have it they put it up for sale again, and this time got a better offer. Over two years later, it is under new ownership, but still empty and derelict.
In July 2023 we obtained our charity registration, which we hoped would mean that the owners of other vacant properties in the city centre might consider letting us in to avoid paying business rates. Since neither the City Council nor Wiltshire Council appeared to have anything else suitable, this seemed to be our only option.
Although there are a large number of empty retail premises in Salisbury, most of them are handled by one firm of estate agents, and it is difficult to make contact with the actual owners. Even those which have become charity shops are leased at a commercial rate, so that volunteers have to work full time selling second-hand goods just to keep paying the rent, and only national charities with large reserves can commit to costly leases.
For over a year, we hoped we might eventually be able to acquire premises in the Maltings shopping precinct; two adjoined shops in Priory Square which had already been empty for over a year when we first viewed them in November 2024. With two large main rooms, they would have been suitable for meetings and film shows, as well as displays and a cafe/social area.
The asking price, for both rent and a share of the security costs of the Maltings precinct, came to over £25,000 per year. Charity law means a charity cannot take out a lease unless the whole cost can be covered out of its reserves. During 2025 we had two large grant applications turned down, so although we kept talking to the precinct manager we were unable to make any progress.
The Big Lottery Bid
In the Autumn of 2025 we heard that the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund was asking for bids for projects of between £500,000 and £1.5 million over 5 years. Even the low end of this range is a lot more than it would cost to rent premises in Salisbury, and the Lottery wanted projects of at least regional scope which could be reproduced nationally, so we got together with our colleagues in Wiltshire Climate Alliance to produce a joint bid.
Our bid, which was submitted in mid-December 2025, included setting up Eco Hubs or Environment Centres in at least three towns in Wiltshire, Salisbury, Chippenham and Devizes, together with a van and equipment to set up temporary pop-up hubs in other towns and villages, and paid staff to supplement and support local volunteers. It has the support of Wiltshire Council, Warm & Safe Wiltshire and the Bristol-based Centre for Sustainable Energy, and we expect to hear by about mid-March 2026 whether it has passed the first hurdle towards further, more detailed consideration by the grant awarders.
If this bid is successful, it will clearly be a game-changer, but successful bidders will not find out before July, and there are always more bids turned down than are approved.
In the meantime, we found out in February that the place we fancied in Priory Square is to be leased by Salisbury Job Centre, so we have missed that one. We had also inquired about the former Hayball’s cycle shop in Winchester Street, but were told (also in February) that the owners had decided that its present condition is “unsafe, uninsurable and unrentable”, and that it will therefore be sold. So after approaching four years, our search is (at least for the time being) back at square one.