The Lonsdale Community Centre is a well-established community centre opened in the early 1980’s. The building a former two story Sunday school was built in January 1911

immediately to the rear of the former Newington Presbyterian Church which originally faced onto Anlaby Road on the site of a former rope manufactory on the south east corner of Lonsdale Street. Following the demolition of the Newington Presbyterian Church in 1963, the Sunday school was then adapted for worship and continued as the United Reform Church into the 1970’s. In 1978 the ‘Newington Community Care Association’ started as an offshoot of Age Concern to provide voluntary help such as visiting and befriending the elderly and house bound people of the Newington area.

With the building becoming increasingly run down and in a state of disrepair the vicar of the United Reform Church wrote to the organisation for ideas of how his building (the former Sunday school) could be utilised after it was finally closed as a church.

From 1981 the NCCA began to run community activities from within the building and took the decision to take on running it as a community venue on a permanent basis.

The building was eventually purchased from the church with a grant from the ‘Urban Programme’ in 1982 and by subsequently obtaining additional grants the association renovated the building to a useable standard and it was reopened as a community centre in 1984.  During 1985 the newly renovated Lonsdale Community Centre was visited by Prince Charles pursuing his interest in distinctive architectural buildings.

At the same time on the site of the former Newington Presbyterian Church itself on the corner of Lonsdale Street and Anlaby Road the NCCA began the operation of a Community shop after it became clear the shop was not only a great resource for the local community but a valuable income generator for the activities running in the community centre.

The Lonsdale Community Centre is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee becoming incorporated on 13 July 2005.