Breathing life back into a historic town building

The owner of one of the most recognisable buildings in a County Londonderry town hopes its restoration will bring further investment to the town.

The former home of the Coleraine Chronicle and Northern Constitution newspapers on Railway Road in the town dates back to 1898 but this year opened as a new business hub.

The red bricked building, which was once Ireland's oldest printing press, retains original features but now has 24 offices and four meeting rooms.

Businessman John Armstrong said it's been a four-year journey to bring the building back to life.

"It seems to fill the gap that isn't currently in the town and we've been pleasantly surprised," he said.

About 45% of the offices are occupied at present and Mr Armstrong said he's "amazed" at how often the auditorium is being used.

"People can come in and they won't have a long lease hanging over them. We're trying to encourage young people and small businesses here.

"I think this should encourage anyone who perhaps just wants to do some hot desking. They can use it for meeting other people here, they can use it for interviews."

Mr Armstrong said he's "convinced" bringing people back to work in the building can benefit the rest of the town.

"Very often we see them going out at lunchtime and coming back with bags that they've already purchased from the shops."

He said former employees of the newspapers also "can't help but smile" and tell their own stories of the building.

"I think it gives hope. I think they realise up we're not just doing this for for profit but we are doing it to try and reinstall some of the beauty of former years."

One former employee at the printing press is DUP MLA Maurice Bradley.

"This is an iconic building and what took place in here during my time was part and parcel of the fabric of Coleraine.

"Everybody knew where the Chronicle and the Constitution office was." he said

"When we printed the Chronicle on a Thursday evening, there were people queued outside the press room door looking for papers because in those days the classifieds were a page and a half long and everybody wanted the bargains.

"Nowadays it's all taken up with social media and these buy and sell sites"

Mr Bradley described the building's transformation as "amazing" and said it was once the site of a blacksmith so has important historical links in Coleraine.

"It was a God send that John took an interest in it because his vision has created what we have here today."

Mr Bradley said he also anticipates it will be beneficial for other businesses in Coleraine.

"Back in the day when we worked here, the main beneficiaries were the cafes across the street. We spent money in and around the local location here so I would imagine that'll continue with the new building."

Mr Armstrong said there needs to be more encouragement for people to restore our town centres.

"We got no grants, we've got no financial encouragement whatsoever."

He said it takes more investment than people expect to refurbish old buildings and that the Chronicle Press "was a top to bottom restoration" after unexpected complications were found as a result of an IRA bomb attack in the town in 1973.

"It lifted the roof completely off the building and set it down again.

"When we came to restore the building we found that along Mill Street all of the joists really didn't make it over to the wall.

"It meant that any budget that we had set ourselves - this is all being privately funded - was completely blown out of the water for us to continue and finish the work.

"These are old buildings and it's not until we get into them, we fully realise the amount of investment that's required".

Mr Armstrong added that financial support and incentives for investors "must be part of a long term plan for Coleraine".