Warm Spaces

Introduction

This year using UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund funding, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Tewkesbury Borough Council will be working in partnership with community venues to deliver Warm Spaces this autumn and winter 2025/2026.

Over the past three years Tewkesbury Borough Council has been able to fund community venues to offer warm spaces during the winter months.

A Warm Space is a place where anyone can go to feel safe, warm, and welcome. It’s free to use and open to everyone. People can come in to rest, chat, enjoy activities, or in some spaces have a snack or meal.

These spaces help people who might feel lonely or who need help staying warm in the winter. They are friendly places where everyone is treated kindly. Warm spaces can also help people find support with making contact with others who can help them.

The grant programme for community venues closed on 22 November 2025.

A Warm Space

A Warm Space is a free, warm, welcoming, and safe place, which all members of the community can access. You do not need to identify your venue as a Warm Space by name as we understand this can cause some stigma. Warm Spaces should be open to everyone in the community.

Feedback from the past three years is that warm, welcoming spaces are important in supporting residents both with the cost of living crisis and also in tackling loneliness.

We hope that applications for Warm Spaces for the winter 2025-26 will evidence both or either of their intentions in supporting residents to tackle these challenges.

Find a Warm Space

Warm Spaces are run across Tewkesbury Borough and we have a directory of warm spaces, including when they open, what they offer, and how to contact them.

Please note, more warm spaces will open later in the winter, so please do check back if you don’t see a local space yet.

Our Warm Spaces charter

Warm Spaces must:

• Be free
• Be heated
• Offer a warm welcome
• Treat people equally and with dignity and respect
• Provide a safe space
• Be non-judgemental
• Be a not-for-profit community venue
• Abide by the required safeguarding policies and food hygiene guidance
• Not serve alcohol in the venue whilst it is operating as a Warm Space.

Funding decisions for community venues

This programme had limited funding to distribute and all applications were assessed and funding allocated on the basis of:

• evidenced need for the Warm Space in tackling the cost of living crisis and/or loneliness
• realistic and reasonable budgets against cost of running the space and the regularity of opening.

All Warm Spaces were required to sign a grant agreement prior to any funding being transferred.