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Decision day is looming for a Teesside hub valued as a safe haven by military veterans.
Julie Cooper says she must soon decide whether the Don War Memorial Museum and Last Post memorial bar stays at its current home in Cranworth Street, Thornaby, or moves elsewhere. Since 2020, the building – formerly St Patrick’s Social Club – has housed not just a downstairs bar popular with veterans, but in the free museum upstairs there’s a vast display of military memorabilia.
But with major repairs to the building needed, Julie must weigh up whether she can afford to stay – or whether it’s time to sound the Last Post. Julie told Teesside Live a meeting with the building’s owners to discuss options has been brought forward from April 2025 to next week.
She said: “I need to sit down with them to decide what to do because we’ve got so many repairs to do on the building. There’s the drains, the men’s toilets, a cellar that floods, a chimney pot that needs taking down and all three roofs are leaking.
“We got quoted £85,000 to repair one roof but we have three! Since we moved in four years ago, we’ve spent £130,000 and there are still major repairs that need doing. But we’re just throwing money at it and it’s not our building.”
(Image: Julie Cooper)
Julie has a 30-year full-repair lease with a five year get-out clause which finishes next November, giving her the option to leave next year. Ideally, though, she would like to buy the building.
She said: “We need a resting place for what’s here. I’ll be asking the owners, who have given us a very reasonable rent, if they would consider selling the building for an amount we could feasibly raise.
“If not, I’ll ask if they could maybe do a yearly lease which gives us the chance to decide what we’re going to do. We definitely don’t want to move because so many people rely on us and we’re very happy in that building.
“I just want people to understand how hard it is for us with the building the way it is. It’s been four years of struggle, really. But we definitely won’t disappear – moving is the worst-case scenario.”
(Image: Julie Cooper)
The bar – which moved from Stockton in 2020 – is used by pensioners, community groups and war veterans, with various regiments, including the Durham Light Infantry and Coldstream Guards, holding branch meetings there. To help pay some repair bills, former 6th Royal Regiment of Fusiliers veteran Michael ‘Maddog’ Kerr has started a GoFundMe page “to help Julie Cooper with all the repairs needed to keep this valuable museum going.”
He added: “This is a vital place for all but the building is in need of major repairs.” You can visit the fundraising page, which has a £1,500 target, here.
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