One Sixty St. James's Street

We've Come a Long Way

Originally built at the start of the 1900's, the terrace of shops on the south side of Lower St James's Street backs onto the culverted river Calder and has been home to many enterprises. Number 160 has been a shoe shop, music shop, rain coat store and famously in the 1980's it was home to the Red Triangle - a vegetarian cafe and music venue. Since when, it has remained a place for Burnley's artists, political activists and a haven for every alternative lifestyle.

In 2017 it was saved from closure by new owners, who for a while continued to run the ground floor as a vegan and vegetarian cafe, music venue and art space called One Sixty. The Covid pandemic eventually caused its final closure as a kitchen around 2021.

This unfortunate turn of events did however open a new door to a remarkable facelift and the beautiful building you now see, complete with rebuilt full height bay windows. The transformation was only possible through the artist/owner's vision and investment, the Borough Council's support and generous grants from Historic England. 160 St James's Street and its new Salon art space, studios and rear garden should now be fit for another 120 years.

160 St James's Street in the 1980's. The original bay windows are still visible on 158 next door.

Counter Culture

Counter Culture – Burnley's Heritage Action Zone Project

During the refurbishment of OneSixty, Creative Spaces Burnley contributed to the Historic England funded Culture Programme on St James's Street for over 4 years. Along the way, working with the specially established Cultural Consortium, we led on the delivery of multiple engagement projects including a pop up gallery, large street murals Alexandra Gallagher (pictured above), and a student research project with UCLAN exploring local pub culture, tea shops, cottage industries and Victorian medicine.

We also contributed to workshops teaching creative heritage skills (shop entrance mosaic making) and hosted street portrait photography projects with artist Casey Orr (Saturday Girl).

Perhaps the biggest legacy of Counter Culture is the Cultural Consortium that formed to deliver it. The consortium continues to meet and influence the direction of economic and cultural development plans in Burnley and is Chaired by OneTwoThree founding member Nick Hunt (Director Mid Pennine Arts).

Special Shoes

Special Shoes was Creative Spaces Burnley's first commissioned work. A show about journeys, with stories told through the shoes of Burnley people. Imagined originally as an online museum of shoes by Burnley based artist Fiona Hornby, the idea became a physical show at the Salon, where Fi had performed on the opening night.

Dozens of people answered the artist's call to donate shoes for the show, and to record the stories of why these particular items of footwear had significance and meaning. Highlights included a shoe found in the cavities within the nearby Empire Theatre (pictured with the artist above), a roller skate from the 1930s belonging to the collections at Towneley Hall and many shoes worn to first gigs, first jobs and on first dates.

'Art & Soul Symposium 2019

'art & Soul – A Symposium Addressing artists' roles in social cohesion

In October 2019, we initiated a one-off coming together of Burnley’s creative community, a unique seminar about art in Burnley, hosted at the town’s new digital hub ‘The Landmark’. This marks the first real engagement in the town for Creative Spaces Burnley.

Presentations were made by Jai Redman representing Creative Spaces Burnley, Ormskirk based musician and art producer Ian Brownbill, Waqar Ahmed from The Hollins project and Marc Francesch Camps, representing the Planter’s Project in Girona, Spain.

The event and discussion was chaired by Gina Dowding MEP, as part of the Greens In Europe’s ‘Green Cities’ series. ‘art and Soul was a great opportunity to explore how new cultural experiences can redefine our town for visitors, investors and residents, and to ask ourselves what role the arts and artists play in social cohesion and the development of Burnley.

It was a milestone moment and the first in a long series of discussions and debates locally, about the future for art and culture locally.

Archived Documents

Creative Spaces Burnley, its directors and associated artists, have been active voices in the promotion and development of art, in particular contemporary visual art and engaged practice in the region for many years. You can read more about our ideas, principles and ambitions by downloading the reports and documents below.

Cultural Narrative (2020) Read our contribution to the conversation on local arts provision. (pdf)

Download

Creative District, Corridor or Hub? (2019) Read our thoughts on the development of Lower St James's (pdf)