The Sumac Centre

The Sumac Centre is a social meeting space ran by volunteers. A computer resources room, café, library and gardens all reside on the property of the Sumac Centre which is located in Forest Fields, Nottingham.

A group of people during the 1980’s with the Environmental Fact Shop, Friends of the Earth (FoE) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) had an idea to form a ‘rainbow centre’. In 1985 the Rainbow Co-operative obtained its location at 180 Mansfield Road, next door to the new FoE shop in Nottingham. In 1988 FoE closed its shop in Nottingham resulting in the Rainbow Centre inheriting the FoE’s library materials. This allowed the Rainbow Centre to increase the range of inventory in its boutique, which was originally sold by the FoE.

The Rainbow Centre over the next few years started to team up with the upcoming Veggies Organisation which specialises in vegan catering. Veggies developed their work from their own homes, however they wished to acquire their own kitchen. As years proceeded, the Rainbow Centre’s initial members had to move on.

Veggies began employing more and more full-time workers, this was their opportunity to maintain the centre themselves. In 1989 the Rainbow Centre expanded its library once again by signing a lease for the property next door. As years came and went, the Rainbow Centre and Veggies Catering Campaign incorporated themselves within its community.

Image from veggies.org.uk

From 1985 to 2001 the Rainbow Centre was established between the Victoria Shopping Centre and Forest Recreation Ground on Mansfield Road junction however all of the buildings part of it were rented and not properly maintained. This led them to move their establishment by purchasing a Ukrainian Social Club within the Forest Fields/New Basford area of Nottingham.

After purchasing and renovating the building hey grasped the buildings character to be known as the Sumac Centre. The centre opened up in 2003 and became home to its café, library, computer resources and gardens.

The Sumac Centre is a support community resistance project and home to the Nottingham Animal Rights and Veggies Catering Campaign. The centre is used for hosting meetings for making an impact on social justice, environemtnal awareness, peace and animal rights within the area of Nottingham, however if given the opportunity to spread this across other areas of England, or the world, “We would be ever so happy to do that.” Says Libby, one of the members of the Sumac Centre, during a talk with journalism students at the NCN Adams Building.   

Image from sumac.org.uk

Musical events such as a ‘DJ Night with The Lizard King “Matt” and Scratch & Sniff “Owen’ on the 4^th of March 2016. These musical events at the Sumac Centre to help raise funds for the Sumac Centre, to improve its providing’s towards the community of Nottingham, as well as help raise money for the charities they support. For example there is a People’s kitchen that is hosted some days, where people are allowed to give a reasonable donation in order to obtain a good vegan meal. One half of the donations are used to help keep the Sumac Centre open, the other half would go towards fundraisers for grassroots causes.

“The Sumac Centre is fab, I’ve only been there once but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I’m not much of a vegan, but veggies make a great veggie burger. Everyone is really nice too. I would like to go back there but places like that aren’t exactly a priority during your free time.” – Mike Adams, Nottingham citizen.

The Sumac Centre is overall a fantastic place for anyone interested in improving the quality of communal living-space and wellbeing within Nottingham. The members at Sumac are all incredibly supportive and are willing to give up their free time in order to bring joy into people’s lives, whether it be through vegan catering, or a games night of scrabble; backgammon and Cluedo. They may have had a confusing past in terms of accommodation, however they appear to have got back onto their feet and are eager to please and help anyone that is in need, or looking to make new friends.


Sources: All research gathered from sumac.org.uk, veggies.org.uk