A NIGHTCLUB in the centre of Oxford will make way for a new £3.4m arts centre for the homeless.

In May next year, the Old Fire Station, in George Street, will become the latest in a string of city nightspots to close.

From June, the historic building will be revamped to provide creative workshops and training for the homeless and those at risk of losing their homes.

Community and youth groups will also be able to hire rooms at the new centre as a way of reintegrating some of Oxford’s “marginalised people” back into society as they work alongside them.

Oxford City Council is paying £400,000 towards the venture.

The rest will come from Crisis, a national homeless charity which will run a Skylight training centre in the OFS, and a Government grant to improve services for rough sleepers.

Crisis chief executive Leslie Morphy said: “Too often, homeless people only integrate with other homeless people. We want this to be a space for re-engaging, education, and moving back into employment.

“The two main reasons people become homeless are because of a breakdown of a relationship, and that can be between a partner or family, and suddenly becoming unemployed. I think we can all relate to that.”

Skylight centres in London and Newcastle offer courses in opera singing, jewellery making and yoga and attract about 100 people a day.

First drafts of how the Oxford centre will look were shown to the public at the Ovada gallery, in Gloucester Green, last night.

Rough sleeper Andrew Gardiner, 43, who has been staying at the Oxford Night Shelter, in Luther Street, for eight months, said: “It’s one of the oldest buildings in Oxford so it’s great it is going to be more accessible to the public.

“It’s going to be good for the city, and good for the different communities here.”

However, dance teacher Susie Crow, from Summertown, said: “The space they have outlined for dance groups to perform in is simply not big enough. Oxford still doesn’t have a decent space for performances.”

Barton and Sandhills city councillor Patrick Murray who was once himself homeless, said: “From my own experience there’s not much out there to help people back into society. This is fantastic.”

The closure of OFS will follow those of Jongleurs and Bar Risa in Hythe Bridge Street, and restaurants Tootsies and Carluccio’s at Oxford Castle.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk