Community-Led Regeneration, Levenshulme, Manchester, 2017–2022
Station South: A Derelict Railway Station Restored Into Levenshulme’s Community Cycle Café
Station South is a Victorian railway station in Levenshulme, restored over five years by a resident-led Community Interest Company and reopened in 2022 as a cycle café, bar, workshop and garden. I was one of three founding directors, working as project manager for the build and as the project’s sole artist, designing its full visual identity from the crowdfunder campaign through to the finished building.
The Brief
The station on Stockport Road had been closed to passengers since 1958 and empty since 2016, after years as a cabinet shop, a DIY store and a short-lived cash and carry. In 2017, a small group of Levenshulme residents started talking about what the building could become instead of what it had been. I joined those early conversations, and Abigail Pound, Pauline Johnston and I took the idea furthest, forming Station South as a Community Interest Company later that year.
The vision we set out went well beyond a café. The plan named seven distinct parts: the cycle café and bar itself, a co-working space we called the Work Station, a bike repair and hire workshop (the Bike Station), a small retail unit (the Goods Depot), a flexible event space (the Viewing Platform), a garden and outdoor classroom (Station Green), and Artvert, an outdoor advertising board designed to help fund the rest. Not everything in that list survived to opening in exactly the form we first imagined, but it set the ambition for what the building could hold.
The Crowdfunder
In 2018 we ran a month-long, all-or-nothing crowdfunder to take the restoration further than the first phase of emergency repairs, £66,561 from 1,161 supporters, £16,000 over our £50,000 target. Gareth Taylor produced the campaign video, and rewards ranged from merchandise and limited-edition art prints to advertising space on the A6 and a tile on the restored parquet dance floor.
One pledge stood out. Jamie Whittaker, who’d helped bring the original idea together with Abigail and Pauline, donated half the proceeds of an End-to-End cycle ride from John O’Groats to Land’s End to the campaign. That’s the kind of support that’s impossible to plan for in a business case, and impossible to forget afterwards.
The Branding
I designed the full visual identity for Station South, and the crowdfunder billboard’s stripe pattern became the throughline for everything that followed, signage, menus, the wordmark, and the kids’ cycle track painted onto the terrace. The colour system needed to work as hard on a printed A2 poster as it did from a moving car on the A6, so it stayed bold and high-contrast throughout.
The wordmark itself borrows the rounded lozenge shape of a classic British Rail totem sign, a quiet nod to the building’s history rather than a pastiche of it. It’s the one piece of the identity that had to sit comfortably next to a genuinely Victorian building, so it went through the most revisions.
The Build
A condition survey found the station was around five years from needing to be demolished. Railway Paths Ltd and the Railway Heritage Trust put in the first £200,000 to make it watertight, and restoration continued in phases from there. We kept and restored the original parquet flooring where we could, and the bar was built from timber salvaged from Manchester Velodrome.
None of the four years between the crowdfunder and opening were smooth. Funding came and went, building material costs rose sharply during and after the pandemic, and one staircase had to be redesigned partway through. Signage and fit-out elements, including the illuminated wordmark, were built off-site and installed as the building came together. Station South finally opened its doors in 2022.
Funders and Supporters
Beyond the crowdfunder, Station South was pieced together from a patchwork of funders: Railway Heritage Trust, Railway Paths Limited, the Architectural Heritage Fund, Key Fund, Power to Change, Sport England, Transport for Greater Manchester, Manchester City Council, One Manchester, Great Places, the Greggs Foundation, Transpennine Express, Cycling UK, Manchester Active and the Greater Manchester Environment Fund.
Just as much of it was built by volunteers, people who cleaned, sanded, wallpapered, tiled, shovelled, litter-picked, leafleted and helped out at events over several years, long before there was a finished café to thank them in.
Artvert: the Social Advertising Board
Artvert was an outdoor advertising board and gallery at Station South, part of the original vision from the crowdfunder. Local businesses bought advertising space on it, and the revenue helped fund community projects and support local artists showing work at the station, I also installed some of my own Moderate Studio artwork on it.
It worked well for as long as it ran, but it isn’t there any more, we took the board down to create a larger, better terrace area for the café. It’s a project in its own right, and one I plan to write up separately.
In Use Today
Station South now runs as a cycle café and bar with a bike repair workshop, a co-working space and a garden, built around the Fallowfield Loop passing underneath it. SSCC, the on-site cycling club, runs weekly rides and meets regularly, and Station Growers keep the garden going with their own weekly sessions. There is usually something else happening alongside them.
The cultural side of the building was mine to shape too. Rather than treat music and events as a headline attraction, I introduced DJs, bands and informal listening as part of the café’s everyday rhythm, something that happens because people are there, not something people travel to Levenshulme specifically for.
Lessons from an Eight-Year Build
Money was the constant pressure throughout: we won funding bids and lost others, and kept re-stitching the financial plan together as costs moved. Building material prices rose sharply during and after Covid, on top of a build that was already running years longer than anyone hoped when the crowdfunder launched in 2018.
The clearest sign that it had worked came after we’d finished. The original landlords put the building up for sale, never a threat to Station South itself, since the CIC holds a long-term lease, and Manchester City Council stepped in and bought the building and the land outright, specifically because of what the community had built there. Station South has been covered by the Manchester Evening News a number of times since, and has picked up several community awards along the way.
Commission a Similar Project
Station South was the longest single project I’ve worked on, and the one that taught me the most about seeing a place-based commission through years of funding uncertainty rather than a single fixed brief. If you’re part of a community group, housing association or council with a building or space that needs the same mix of patience, design and project management to get it open, I’d like to hear about it.
Get in touch about a project like this →
Photography by Jody Hartley and Paul Childs.
Questions
What is Station South?
Station South is a cycle café, bar, workshop and garden inside a restored 1892 railway station in Levenshulme, Manchester, run as a Community Interest Company on the Fallowfield Loop cycleway.
Who founded Station South?
Station South was founded in 2017 by three Levenshulme residents, Abigail Pound, Mark Jermyn and Pauline Johnston, as a Community Interest Company.
How was Station South funded?
A 2018 crowdfunder raised £66,561 from 1,161 supporters, alongside over £200,000 in restoration investment from Railway Paths Ltd and the Railway Heritage Trust, plus further funding from Manchester City Council, Sport England, Power to Change and other partners.
What was Mark Jermyn’s role at Station South?
Mark acted as project manager for the restoration from concept through to delivery, and as the project’s sole artist, designing the full visual identity, from the crowdfunder campaign to signage, menus and the terrace cycle track.
Is Station South still open?
Yes. Station South operates as a cycle café, bar and community hub in Levenshulme, with a weekly cycling club, a community garden group and a regular events programme.
What was Artvert at Station South?
Artvert was a social advertising board Mark designed and championed at Station South, with ad revenue supporting community projects and local artists. It is no longer running, the board was removed to create a larger café terrace.
What was originally planned for Station South?
The 2018 crowdfunder set out seven parts to the vision: the café and bar, a co-working space, a bike workshop, a small retail unit, a flexible event space, a garden and outdoor classroom, and Artvert, the advertising board.
Why did Manchester City Council buy Station South’s building?
After the restoration was complete, the original landlords put the building up for sale. Manchester City Council bought the building and land, citing what the community had built there as the reason.
From the Journal
Eight Years, as It Happened
Dated entries following the station from a first look at the derelict Cash and Carry in 2017 to the finished building, its greenway and its cycle kit.
Selected Work