A Rochdale veterans group has signed a lease to take over the café and community hub at Denehurst House as the long-delayed reopening of the historic building moves closer.
Get Together After Serving CIC, known as GTAS, says it expects to receive the keys next week.
Rochdale Council created five veterans-only flats and a café at Denehurst House in Denehurst Park to support former members of the armed forces as they adapt to civilian life.
Work on the building was completed around two years ago, but its opening has been delayed by legal issues. Repairs were also carried out last year after flooding.
The council is the legal trustee of Denehurst House and has carried out a consultation to ensure the different parts of the original gift of the property are being dealt with in accordance with legal requirements.
GTAS has now announced that it has signed the lease for the café and community hub and expects to receive the keys next week.
The group said: “The long wait is finally, finally over… and our hearts are absolutely bursting with pride.
“We are so pleased, so humbled, and so proud to announce that Get Together After Serving CIC will be officially moving into the café and community hub at Denehurst House!
“The lease is signed. The future is real. And next week… the keys will be in our hands.
“This moment has been months of hope, patience, stress, graft, and belief — and today, it becomes a reality.”
GTAS thanked people and organisations which it said had supported its work, including councillors Amber Nisa and Daniel Meredith, Mayor Faisal Rana, Mayoress Iram Faisal, Janet Emsley, Rochdale MP Paul Waugh and Heywood and Middleton North MP Elsie Blundell.
It also named Rochdale Veterans Breakfast Club, VTA Recruitment, Bluebird Care Rochdale, Mitchell Funeral Services, Beta View Windows and Doors, AAA Pest Control Services Ltd, A.T.MSC Pathway Football Agency, Boro Bees, Louise Scott and Father and Son Karaoke among its supporters.
The group said: “Your belief in GTAS, your support for our mission, and your commitment to veterans and the community of Rochdale has changed everything. We will never forget what you’ve done for us.
“Now… the hard work starts. And we are ready.
“This café will be run by veterans, for veterans, and for the entire community of Rochdale.”
Councillor Daniel Meredith said the next stage would be getting veterans into the five apartments.
He said: “It’s taken a long time to get here… But we’ve done it.
“I’m genuinely glad we worked together to bring Get Together After Serving CIC in run the café, and I can’t wait for the grand opening. It’s going to be a brilliant asset for the community.
“Next step: getting veterans moved in, so the new apartments can finally be used by those who need them most.
“I can already see a strong partnership forming over the coming years as we continue supporting veterans across Rochdale Borough.
“Well done again and here’s to the future!”
Denehurst House is a Victorian manor house built between 1893 and 1909 as the family home of the Turner family.
The house and surrounding grounds were donated to the town in 1932 by Samuel Turner in memory of his father, Alderman Robert Turner, founder of Turner Brothers Asbestos Ltd.
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