AN UNDER-THREAT community centre has been temporarily saved from closure after council intervention and a Chronicle appeal.
The Ideas Hub, the home of 700 quirky and creative workshops, will stay open at High Chelmer in Chelmsford until the summer at least.
Only two weeks ago the Chronicle told how the 3,500sq-ft, two-storey hub, which overlooks Bell Meadow, was ordered to close by New Year's Day to make way for a redevelopment and paying tenants.
Yet city council leader Roy Whitehead, whose authority owns the shopping complex, stepped in after reading the article to ask operators Jones Lang LaSalle to formulate a compromise.
"This is an excellent Christmas present," said Ideas Hub co-founder Leonie Ramondt.
"We're delighted. It would be a huge loss to Chelmsford if we had to close.
"Where else in Chelmsford can you meet all kinds of people over a cuppa in such a relaxed, friendly and joyful atmosphere?
"These last two years it's been a home for more than 700 creative workshops, meet-ups and start-up businesses.
"We're working with our newly formed committee and High Chelmer to establish a secure and sustainable future for the Ideas Hub. "
High Chelmer management houses the Ideas Hub free-of-charge, but wanted to clear them out to tidy-up the venue for prospective businesses.
They include shops already leaving the Exchange Way entrance of the complex to make way for the planned al fresco restaurant quarter.
But after Cllr Whitehead pulled some strings, LaSalle agreed on Friday to let the Ideas Hub crew stay – if it helps tidy up the interior. Cllr Whitehead said: "We agreed it needs tidying up so we will provide storage space for the Ideas Hub."
The hub, which does not have central heating, aims to reopen on Saturday, January 3.
