History of the hub

The Maltby Lane hub was built as a Weslyan Day School in 1867, and was soon large and successful.

The building displayed similar architecture to the another school on Queen Street, and was single storied with round arched windows. It is brick built with slate roofs and very little architectural decoration, including the use of buff coloured brickwork to frame windows. Principal windows have gothic carved stone heads.The building was extended by 1887, with further alterations by 1908. Despite its size and good reports from the inspectorate, the site faced financial issues from an early date and had closed by 1920.

Between 1921 and 1962 it was used a Salvation Army Citadel, with further alterations to the building carried out by 1932. By 1965 the Salvation Army had moved to the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Queen Street, with that building becoming the new Citadel.

Following the departure of the Salvation Army, the building became a labour exchange and library. In 1964 it became an youth centre, with extensive refurbishment being carried out. This work saw the structure of the building going through significant change both indoors and out, including alterations to the front entrance. CHAMP took on the building in July 2010 and has worked with local groups and communities in the building ever since.