More empty shops in Bath are being revitalised and repurposed for the community to enjoy as part of a project to breathe new life into the city centre.

Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Vacant Units Action Project finds new uses for empty retail units as part of a programme of support to help high streets’ recovery.

Local charity Share and Repair, which aims to help local people save money and the planet by reducing waste and repairing and reusing items, is opening a new shop at 3 York Buildings on George Street on Wednesday this week. The shop will house the charity’s ‘library of things’, carry out repairs and host ‘how-to’ workshops.

Lorna Montgomery, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Share and Repair, said: “This is such an amazing space and location for us to attract people in and encourage practical action to improve our environment. Keeping items in use for longer and reducing the amount of waste that goes into landfill is essential to reducing our carbon emissions. At the same time, we want people to rethink what and how they buy; we all own too much and often only use many things once or twice a year. Our Library of Things has over 400 items to borrow and we’re looking forward to working with local people to ‘Mend It, Don’t End It and Borrow don’t Buy’.”

Fringe Arts Bath and Bath Fringe have also recently taken over 5 Broad Street. Renamed ‘This is not a Shop’, the former retail unit is now hosting events, performances and art exhibitions Wednesdays to Sundays from 12 noon to 5 pm, until 27th August.

Steve Henwood, Fringe Co-Director, said: “Contemporary arts activity is an excellent antidote to the much-feared ‘decline of the High Street’. A city and community like Bath is well placed to run an endless creative stream of modern arts experiences at the drop of a shutter: all it needs is a little support and the artistic imagination, and suddenly we have a phenomenon which is good for everyone.”