An ART gallery manager has thanked the city council for providing her with a temporary building to host an exhibition in the run-up to Christmas.

The Flash in the Pan team was due to host an exhibition at the Corner Club in Turl Street.

But artists were left with nowhere to go when the club closed at the end of last month.

At the last minute, the council provided the team with gallery space at a former shop at 35 George Street.

Since December 4, 11 artists have been displaying textiles, glass, jewellery, paintings and furniture in the exhibition, which ended yesterday.

Exhibition organiser Tess Blenkinsop, a jeweller from Summertown, said: “It was very disappointing when the Corner Club closed, but city council leader Bob Price was extremely helpful when I approached the council to explain our problem.

“The council provided this rented space for us in George Street at short notice and it has been a tremendous success.

“A lot of people have said to us that they think there should be a permanent community gallery here and it is just what is needed in this part of the city centre.

“The exhibition has gone fantastically well, and the council couldn’t have been more helpful.

“Ian Blair, the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, recently came to sign copies of his new book, together with seven other authors.”

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “We were delighted to be able to help.”

The Corner Club, formerly the QI Club, closed after failing to agree the terms of an extended lease with the council, which owns the building. Six people were made redundant.

A Curious Group of Hotels, which runs a hotel on Paris’s Left Bank and Cowley Manor near Cheltenham, bought out the QI Club in 2007.

Group spokesman Andy Hill said earlier the company had invested about £1m in the property. It had been planning to redevelop the ground floor, with dining on the first floor and a club on the upper floors for 200 members.

Sara Banerji, of the Turl Street Storytellers, which met regularly at the Corner Club, said she was saddened by its closure, adding: “We are now looking for new premises and need a comfy stylish room for writers to meet in.

“Until we get somewhere permanent we will probably meet in different pubs or hotels and then write stories about the places we visit.”

Colin Cook, the council’s executive member for city development, said it was now marketing the building for a new business.

He added: “There have been expressions of interest and officers will be negotiating with potential applicants who want to take on the lease for the building.

“Hopefully a deal will be struck at some point in the new year.”