Bridlington’s Citizens Advice office has a new home and will be opening at the end of April.
The new offices will be housed in the former Barclays Bank building on Manor Street in Bridlington after being located on Prospect Arcade for over 30 years.
Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding is investing in Bridlington as it prepares to move to an exciting new base in the heart of the town later this month.
The first advice session at historic building will be held on April 29.
The independent charity, which has served local communities for 85 years, is moving its seaside base – one of four local offices – to a prime position in Manor Street.
The new space will provide the charity with scope to expand its services and create a local hub to work in partnership with other local organisations – to empower residents of Bridlington and surrounding areas with free, confidential, independent and impartial advice on a wide range of issues including debt, benefits, housing, employment, relationships and family.
The former Barclays Bank building at 6 Manor Street is part of Bridlington’s heritage.
The site once housed the practice of Francis Johnson, a renowned local architect known for his classical restorations and contribution to East Yorkshire’s built environment. His firm operated from Manor Street in the 1930s before moving to High Street, embedding the building in the town’s architectural legacy.
The building has been leased to Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding by the Lords Feoffees, whose charitable mission to benefit the town dates back nearly 400 years. Now it is being converted into a light, spacious facility which will provide a perfect new home for staff and volunteers and a comfortable, welcoming environment for clients.
The charity supports thousands of clients a year from across the East Riding in person in Bridlington at a weekly drop-in sessionon Tuesdays and pre-arranged appointments on other days. The final advice session will be held at the current office in Prospect Arcade on Thursday, April 25 and the new office will open for drop-in clients on Tuesday, April 29.
Citizens Advice also offers specialist debt advice, support for people in the early stages of claiming Universal Credit and energy advice through a range of channels and locations, including outreach work across Hull and the East Riding.
The Prospect Arcade office has served Citizens Advice well for more than 30 years but can no longer meet the needs of the charity’s growing team and mission in the area.
Tracy Wharvell, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding, said: “We’ve been thrilled to see the transformation from a bank to a light, bright new space which will help us meet growing need for our services in Bridlington, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our first clients at the end of the month.
“The new office will provide a scalable, future-proofed space for our brilliant staff and wonderful volunteers to support the local community.
“As a charity reliant on funding from a range of sources, including our local councils in the East Riding and Hull, the new office will provide us with a platform to attract new projects and create jobs. It will also create new opportunities to work in collaboration with other local organisations for the benefit of Bridlington.”
Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding also operates from offices in Beverley and Goole in the East Riding and at The Wilson Centre in Hull. Last year, it supported clients with more than 93,000 issues, and every £10 donated to the charity created £112 of financial outcomes for clients.
