Leeds art hostel opens following £800k funding package

A Leeds art hostel has opened its doors following an £800k funding package from Unity Trust Bank.

East Street Arts, a contemporary arts charity which has supported hundreds of artists and creative projects for 29 years, has transformed a building next to its headquarters into affordable accommodation for backpackers and tourists.

Rhian Aitkin, hospitality lead, East Street Arts’, said: “We opened a temporary pilot hostel between 2016 and 2018, hosting more than 10,000 guests from 115 countries.

“We showed we had a successful business model and there was a market for this. Thanks to a mortgage from Unity we’ve been able to get a permanent home for the hostel and create five new jobs, including two from the Government’s Kick-Start programme.”

The 12-room, 60-bed project is the brainchild of East Street Arts founders and creative directors Karen Watson and Jon Wakeman, who stay in grassroots hostels when they travel abroad to get an authentic feel for a city and its people.

The hostel has been designed by 20 international artists with each space having a creative theme, such as a focus on protest culture in the 1980s, a room inspired by local East African communities and a sensory-safe room for people with disabilities.

There is also an emphasis on the circular economy with one artist transforming concrete outdoor space into an eco-garden complete with wormery compost beds to another gathering discarded clothing left in the street to create a room emblematic of the wool and textile heritage of Yorkshire.

Michael Wicks, relationship manager at Unity Trust Bank, commented: “This is the first social enterprise hostel in the country and we are really proud to support it.

“As well as boosting the local economy through tourism and job creation, profits generated from the hostel will go back into supporting the charity’s valuable work.”