“This will be the cafe and bar,” said Claire Malcolm on the ground floor of a grand, deserted building in Newcastle she hopes will become an international powerhouse of writing creativity. “We’re thinking of making it a wifi dead zone. You’ll have to pick up a book or a newspaper. Or talk to someone.”
Malcolm is giving the Guardian an exclusive tour of a forgotten 100-year-old building that is a key part of a bold project to propel north-east England to becoming a centre for writing and publishing.
The plan is to refurbish and convert the Bolbec Hall, near the city’s central station, into a place its backers say would be the first of its kind in the UK: a space where would-be and professional writers, publishers, students and more can come together, mingle, talk and exchange ideas.
A coalition, which includes civic leaders, academics and industry bosses, has come together to bid for £5m of government money to help develop the £14m project.
At its heart is a battle against the London bias of the UK’s publishing industries.
Kim McGuinness, the north-east metro mayor, sees the centre as a first step in a wider mission to build up the region’s creative industries. “For too long, the north’s creative talent has been overlooked and dismissed,” she said. “Talent is classless, but not everyone gets the opportunity to develop it.”
Malcolm, the chief executive of New Writing North, which is leading the project, agrees. People should not have to leave the north-east to live their dreams, she said. “All commercial publishing is in London. Up until a couple of years ago, none of it was outside London. The idea, pre-Covid, that you might have an office outside London would have been absolutely outlandish.
“Why is it all down there? It just doesn’t feel tenable any more.”
The Bolbec Hall dates from 1907 and is next to the Lit & Phil, the largest independent library outside London.
Over the years, the Bolbec has been used by societies including the North East Coast Shiprepairers’ Association and the North of England Art Club, which organised life drawing classes on the fifth floor. On the first floor is a fabulous wood-panelled room once used as a coroner’s court.
The building was bought by Newcastle property developer John Wade who planned to create new office space until the idea of it being bought off him for the new centre came along.
Wade has been extremely patient, Malcolm said. “On one level we are the worst potential purchaser in the world,” she said. “We’re charming but we basically don’t have any money. John has been brilliant in giving us a bit of latitude.”
The building has a wealth of original features with wonderful marble mosaic tiled floors, over-the-top ceiling roses and a stone staircase straight out of a Hitchcock thriller. The plan is that the ground floor will have a cafe and bar, perhaps wifi free, as well as what they hope will be the largest independent bookshop in the north of England.
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There may be audio studios in the basement, a first-floor events space, office space for commercial publishers and charities, and a floor where Northumbria University – a key partner on the project – would teach MA students. Dotted around the building will be spaces for writers.
A decision on whether the government will back the project is expected soon. If it’s yes, it will unlock £5.5m in pledges from regional partners.
From some windows in the building, you can see into the book-lined grandeur of the Lit & Phil.
“I like to think of it like the past and future of books,” said Malcolm. “Over there is the repository of our learning and here will be the engine for making new stuff.
“This building has a history of collective thinking which is important to us.”
Malcolm said the nearest similar place is the Litteraturhuset (The House of Literature) in Oslo, which Malcolm visited more than a decade ago. She remembers speaking to the boss who said New Writing North, her organisation, had been a model for them.
“I was really flattered but it also made me really depressed for England that we hadn’t done it.
“Books are one of our biggest exports. We’re really good at it. They add so much to our international profile. Why don’t we invest in them like we invest in theatre or music or the visual arts?”