A newly opened youth hub in Stoke-on-Trent is becoming a hit with youngsters and teenagers in its first month in operation.

Middleport Matters Community Trust opened The Block at Middleport Park in May and there are plans to expand what it currently offers to become "a home" for teenagers where they can visit regularly throughout the week.

The facility features a pool table, table tennis, a darts board, a mini library and games consoles with activities running including fishing, running, animal walks, cycling and even canoeing.

The community trust is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and had been using the bowling pavilion in the park to host a weekly youth club until the building fell into disrepair.

After the plans were brought forward for the youth centre, the pavilion was demolished by the council, making way for a fresh start for the service.

It has been funded by the government's Youth Investment Fund and delivered in partnership with the city council.

Founder of Middleport Matters, Amelia Bilson, told Stoke Nub News: "We've got loads of exciting things that we're hoping to do with young people. We're looking at how can we help them grow, develop, make friends and just thrive in the city.

Inside The Block at Middleport Park. (Supplied)

"It is a brand new building, but it is on the footprint of where there was an old building. So it's kind of gone full circle from us, because we were in that building 10 years ago, and then we kind of had to leave it when it became unusable."

The new facility means Middleport Matters can offer a wider range of activities and host indoor events for young people.

There are also plans to open five days a week over the school summer holiday in a bid to tackle the traditional rises in anti-social behaviour and the financial pressures for families over the period.

Amelia added: "We are really hoping that by the end of the summer, this space is just embedded into young people as their home and the place they can come to after school every day.

The Block is based at Middleport Park. (Supplied)

"So far activities have included bat and butterfly walks, walking and running, cycling plus heritage canoeing sessions - so all sorts of things.

"We're really passionate about celebrating what Middleport has to offer, because it has had a bad reputation in the past. 

"Over the last 10 years, we've been building community cohesion and physically improving the natural environment, you know, the physical environment of the area, but providing activities for people to connect, which is what we didn't have 10 years ago. 

"We started a new program on Monday and we already have one partner, Bernardos, who are doing two weekly sessions with us, which is great.

"We have started having conversations with the DWP about maybe doing some employability courses, because we want to work with young people up to 24 years old. 

"We are so excited to have what we call 'late night'. It's not that late, but later than usual on a Friday night for older teenagers.

"And we thought, nobody's going to turn up, because we really struggled to engage the older teenagers. But on our first session, we had about 20. 

"Another group popped in to see what was going on, and then when we told them what was going on, they then rang all their mates.

"And they're giving us lots of ideas of what things they'd like to see being done here. So that's a group that you know we really want to invest in."

Find out more about The Block here.

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