Cockermouth and District Civic Trust calls on ideas for towns future

The Cockermouth and District Civic Trust wants suggestions on how best to breathe new life into a number of buildings that have become vacant in recent years.

In recent times the former Jennings Brewery site became vacant when Carlsberg Marston closed the site in October 2022. This was followed by the partial collapse of the Old Courthouse in late 2023 and the closure of the HSBC bank.

The Civic Trust chairman Phil Campbell has now invited residents of Cockermouth to come forward with their ideas on the future of the town.

He said: "What we want is for people to think about what they would particularly like to do in the town. We have got Jenning's Brewery, the Old Courthouse and we have got the HSBC bank as it was.

"Perhaps we need to try regenerating that area, therefore we are just really wanting people to come forward and have ideas of what we can do with that end of town moving forward, and the Jennings Brewery is a good place to start."

The organisation is hoping to get ideas moving forward with the belief that with new ideas comes a greater chance of bringing investment for regeneration.

Mr Campbell acknowledged that the buildings are owned by private landlords, but believes that by generating ideas on what can be done there is a chance to 'pave a way forward' for development within the town.

Mr Campbell said: "Maryport and Carlisle are under active regeneration, Workington has plans to regenerate the centre and we just don't want Cockermouth to fall by the wayside due to lack of ideas.

"One of the things that has been said is that money follows ideas... if you have got good ideas for redevelopment then you can start looking at investment, but if you have got no idea then you can't raise money."

The trust is asking members of the community to come forward and look at sharing their ideas through the organisation's Facebook page - with the hopes of creating a conversation around the future of Cockermouth.