New vision for Peterborough's £13 million plus The Vine community and cultural hub has its split over three sites

Original plans for The Vine drawn up four years ago had it housed in the former TK Maxx and New Look building in Bridge Street, which is owned by Peterborough City Council.

Just two years later it was decided to change the location and divide The Vine into a community hub based in the Central Library in Broadway with a food and drink hub in the Victorian former rail shed at Fletton Quays.

Now members of the Peterborough Towns Fund board have decided that the business element of The Vine should be moved from the library into the grade II listed Peterscourt, in City Road, which is also owned by the council.

Details of the new move are contained in the minutes of the Towns Fund board from March 10.

It comes after the council announced it had plans for a new use for a section of Central Library that was to be used for The Vine.

According to the Towns Fund minutes, the cost of making changes to the Central Library will total £5.23 million.

A further £1.9 million is to be granted to a prospective developer, Farholt Goods Shed Limited, of Northamptonshire, for the refurbishment of the Goods Shed.

The minutes state: “There is a lot of work being carried out with the legal team and the developer (of the Goods Shed) which has taken longer than was anticipated and has almost concluded.

"It is anticipated that construction will commence in April 2026.”

The board was told that the costs of making changes to Peterscourt had not yet been finalised.

However, members agreed that the Peterscourt element of The Vine should be the first of the three parts to be delivered.

It is expected that work will start on site by the end of November this year with expected completion by May 2026.

The Vine is the flagship project of the Towns Fund and has been allocated about £13 million of the £22.9 million earmarked by the former Government for beneficial projects in Peterborough.

The initial vision for The Vine was that it should be entirely located within the former TK Maxx and New Look store in Bridge Street.

A trial miniature version of The Vine was even run in part of the building in 2021 but closed because of heating issues.

Months later, former council leader Councillor Wayne Fitzgerald announced the former TK Maxx and New Look store was to be sold to a developer who wanted to turn it into a conferencing and banqueting centre with apartments and a rooftop restaurant.

The council had bought the building in 2020 with the use of Government money provided through the Towns Fund when it had originally planned to base The Vine in the empty retail buildings.

It is expected that once the building’s sale is completed the money will go back into the Towns Fund pot and be shared between the eight Towns Fund projects.

The raid shed site at Fletton Quays had been earmarked for a whisky and gin distillery more than three years ago, was put up for sale in March 2021 but was later removed from the market.