Station South – The former Levenshulme train station saved from collapse to become community hotspot

If you were to ask someone to paint a picture that summarised ‘community’, you’d like end up with a drawing of Station South in Levenshulme.

From families clustered around tables inside to chattering pals catching up on picnic tables outside, to cyclists pulling in for a bike service and a takeaway coffee to people admiring the on-site urban garden, this is a community hub for all ages and walks of life.

This is a room where you’ll see cotton baby grows and lycra one-piece suits and oversized denim and linen dresses all running along together.

Station South has a regular programme of events, from planned cycling trips to maintenance masterclasses, pub quizzes and mini markets.

Every Friday, DJs pop up for the weekly Platform Social, spinning disco, funk, soul and much more, and they host open deck nights where anyone with a vinyl collection can get involved.

The building itself has been restored beautifully, with plenty of odes to its former life, from the wooden ceilings to the parquet floor.

It’s located around the halfway point of the Fallowfield Loop – in fact the busy cycleway passes directly underneath Station South. You can sit in the sunny side room and watch people cycling, running, scooting and skating along beneath you.

Outside, there’s a sunny terrace bedecked with festoon lighting, and their little patch of green has been thoughtfully rewilded with native wildflowers and hedging.

There are picnic tables perched beneath pergolas crawling with plants, and even a few raised beds growing herbs.

As is so often the case with these suburban venues, Station South has a little something for everyone and for every time of day. That means roast dinners on Sunday, family-friendly seasonal menus, local beers, great wines, and plenty more.

On its breakfast menu is a fall-off-your-bike-in-delight breakfast muffin – the Manc Muffin – an intimidating stack of sausage patty, hash brown, cheese, egg, and relish. They don’t scrimp on the fillings. You’ll get in a mess eating it and you won’t mind.

We also ordered a confit tomato, halloumi and butter bean toast dish with just the right amount of pesto stirred through.

On a Saturday morning the place is packed and bustling in a comfortable, familiar sort of way.

And without the community Station South now serves, none of this might have existed.

A once bustling and integral part of Manchester’s public transport network, the former Levenshulme Station was gradually downgraded as electric trams arrived, war ravaged the economy, and the railways were nationalised.

The building slowly stopped serving passengers, then reduced to goods only, then became a coal depot that simply watch trains pass through on their way to Manchester Central, until that also closed in 1969.

In the late 1990s, a small group of keen cyclists rallied to have the old railway line turned into an urban greenway that would link up key South Manchester boroughs – this is, of course, the Fallowfield Loop (not actually a loop, before you get lost).

But the building above whizzed through several different iterations as various retail units before being almost completely abandoned and quickly falling into disrepair.

In 2017 a group of Levenshulme locals started their mission to bring the dilapidated but still-beautiful building back into use.

And that building is Station South.

Thank god it wasn’t lost forever.

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Featured image: The Manc Group