A NEW food and arts project aims to bring one of Ayr town centre’s most fondly remembered buildings back into use.
Narture CIC – a community arts and food social enterprise based in the town – is taking over the former Beatties Toy Shop on Newmarket Street.
It aims to create the Auld Toy Shop, a project dedicated to creativity, play, skills development, and town centre regeneration.
Beatties was woven into the fabric of the lives of local families for more than 35 years, but sadly the unit has stood empty for the past 12 years.
Ayr faces some of the highest levels of town centre deprivation in the UK and was recently identified as the UK’s “empty shop capital”.
By bringing people together in an iconic historic building, the Auld Toy Shop reimagines an empty shop as a place for creativity, connection and collective imagination.
Through arts, food and community participation, the project aims to demonstrate how vacant buildings can become catalysts for cultural participation, civic pride and long-term regeneration.
On Friday, July 31, the Narture team will host a launch event at 25 Newmarket Street from 4pm until 8pm to invite interested local people to see what is happening with the Auld Toy Shop and discover how they can get involved in the project.
Narture CIC co-founder Robert Singer said: “The Auld Toy Shop is more than a building. It is a place held in the memory of the town.
"Many people remember it with affection, and we want to honour that by bringing it back into civic use as a place of imagination, play, food, art, and public conversation.
“Narture began as an experimental kitchen and bakery, but the deeper purpose has always been to show how food can sustain creativity, and creativity can regenerate the town.”
Co-founder Saskia Singer added: “We believe artists have an important role in helping communities express what they feel, remember what matters, and imagine what could happen next.
"Through the Auld Toy Shop, we want to create a warm, welcoming space where people can share ideas for the future of Ayr and see those ideas take creative form.”
The project has been made possible thanks to the support of landlord David Milne of Milne Properties, a keen supporter of town centre regeneration.
Creative Scotland has provided funding of £230,000 to assist with recruiting a team of enthusiastic and versatile art practitioners.
