Carlisle’s Fire Station was based at Spring Gardens Lane. This building was demolished in the early 1960s to make way for Eden Bridge House.
The Fire Station moved to Warwick Street in 1940.
The Carlisle Floods in 2005 had a devastating impact on the city, residents and businesses. The Fire Station was one of the casualties and the building was under several feet of water.
Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service closed the Warwick Street fire station in 2012. In 2013, plans were put forward by Carlisle City Council to convert the building into a new arts centre.
The new Carlisle arts centre opened its doors to the public and offered up a pilot programme of exhibitions, workshops and other creative activities. It was a temporary location for local arts groups and artists. Comedy nights and community activities took place.
Work gets underway on a £1 million Carlisle City Council redevelopment of the former Carlisle Fire Station into a vibrant space for arts and entertainment. Local building company, Thomas Armstrong (Construction) Ltd and architect, Day Cummins of Cockermouth were chosen to design and build the project. Following planning approval, construction work started in October 2014 and will be completed by May 2015.
The newly transformed Fire Station will open to the public. The main building will be adapted to provide four main spaces including: A ground floor foyer with box office; cafe-bar, plus a main auditorium for live music, comedy, theatre and exhibitions accommodating around 250 seated or 350 standing. There will also be a first floor studio space for workshops and conferences, plus a first floor studio. The remaining space includes smaller rooms will be used for offices, rehearsal, changing rooms and studios for rent.
It’s been less than a year since the Old Fire Station opened its doors as an arts centre. Now, the building has fallen victim to the floods which ravaged Cumbria this weekend.The venue broke the news over Facebook on Saturday morning thanking everyone for their support. Since it opened it played host to a huge range of musicians, artists and comedians - some of whom took to twitter to express their sympathies for the venue. .
Nine months after being swamped by the floods of Storm Desmond, the venue will again be back in business.It quickly won many friends for its atmosphere and wide-ranging programme, Dozens of events were postponed and cancelled and the huge repair project has cost in the region of £500,000. The centre is reopening ahead of schedule and the open night will feature local bands The Chadelics and Ogres of Go-Go, with the first proper gig on September 22nd 2016