Durban House is situated on Mansfield Road, at Eastwood, on the corner of the junction with Greenhill's Road. The house has a strong connection with D.H. Lawrence, and the Eastwood community, and is only a short walk from D.H. Lawrence's birthplace, and Eastwood's town centre.
Durban House was built in 1896, for The Barber Walker mining company, and was once the wages offices for Brinsley Colliery, this was the colliery where D.H. Lawrence's father worked, and this is where a young Bert Lawrence would call and collect his fathers pay packet. The house was then turned into a mining officials institute, with a concert hall, billiard table, and library, before being converted into flats. After the flats were closed down, the house stood derelict for several years before being fully renovated in 1998, and turned into a mining museum and heritage centre.
In 2022, Durban House took on a new role as a Community Hub, and was awarded charity status. This was to enable all those concerned with the local community to expand their range of projects, and to benefit Eastwood and the surrounding areas. Plans included creating a community garden, a cafe upstairs, and space for dementia patients and their families, also to help facilitate the providing of local pre-loved school uniforms, and warm clothing and bedding for those struggling to keep warm during winter.
Glyn Hassell, chair of trustees for the charity, said: “This has been a real labour of love and took numerous attempts. It is a great testament to everyone involved, and a validation of the ambitious plans we all have to improve the lives of our local community. Many things that were on hold until we were officially a charity, can now proceed".
Update - 21st. May 2024. Unfortunately, the full funding for the Community Hub did not materialise, and Durban House was closed for renovation. According to the Broxtowe Borough Council website, "this is to allow for essential maintenance works to be carried out on the internal rooms of Durban House to make the building compliant, and facilitate a letting at the property be approved".
The only remaining part of the proposed Community Hub is now the community gardens
8th. July 2024. It has just been confirmed that Raleigh bikes are about to move in to Durban House, Eastwood, for use as their administration centre, there had been rumours for several weeks suggesting that this was going to happen. Raleigh is now part of US private equity firm KKR, which took over the Dutch company Accell Group, one of Europe's largest bike manufacturers, (and was also the owner of Raleigh), for €1.56 billion (£1.31 billion). Accell acquired Raleigh in 2012, adding the British brand to a portfolio which currently includes Haibik, Ghost, Koga, Sparta and Batavus.
Now that Raleigh bikes, and KKR, have taken over our Community Hub, and in doing so have become part of D.H. Lawrence's history, perhaps we can encourage KKR & Co. which apparently have a net worth of $94 billion, (as of July 8, 2024), to donate a tiny proportion of that money to pay for a statue of D.H. Lawrence for the people of Eastwood, (please see the Eastwood's D.H. Lawrence statue fund link below).
Below are links to the Durban House Community Hub Website, and also their Facebook page, further information, including any updates, can be obtained through those links.
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