Wellington Railway Station set for new lease of life - including a micro brewery

The site will also be landscaped with scores of plants in a drive for it to become known as ‘Lavender Station’.

The station is 170 years old and serves 630,000 people each year. It is owned by London Midland, which has teamed up with volunteer group The Friends of Wellington Station.

Members of the group say they want to make the station a key facility in Wellington, attracting businesses back into the empty spaces, reopening the waiting room and offering food.

Fay Easton, former Wrekin parliamentary candidate and Enterprise Nation representative in Wellington, is part of the team looking to bring the station back to its glory days. She said there was massive potential, and that it could have fantastic implications for the town as a whole.

She said: “This is a particular area where we can look at interesting growth,” she said. “The station comprises empty buildings and existing footfall – 630,000 people go through every year. It is right in the town centre, so it is steps away from the retail heart. There’s four to five thousand square feet empty and we want to bring those buildings back into use.

“The blessing for us in Wellington is that we’ve got a great amount of space. A lot of stations have narrow walkways, but Wellington was built with a more generous amount of space. We’ve got loads to work with.

“We’re all clear that there needs to be commercial reality. You can’t expect it to be maintained through grants.

“There will be a pop-up shop element to it, so there’s income coming in to sustain those buildings. We want it to complement what happens in town. We also love the idea of a microbrewery on the station.

“We’re also talking about restoring a waiting room with catering and visitor services that’ll provide revenue. There’s all sorts of ideas. With 24-hour access to them and drive-up access on both sides, it’s a really great location.”

In the short term, the team will be looking to brighten up the area with a display of hundreds of lavender plants.

Ms Easton said she wanted Wellington to become known as Lavender Station. The flowers, which will come from Shropshire Lavender in Pickstock near Newport, will line the verge up to the station. New planters will be installed inside.

She added: “The station is people’s first impression of Wellington. If it doesn’t look cared for, it gives a bad impression of the town.

“On platform three is an area that’s already a bit like a nature reserve that’s been left to grow. The Walkers of Wellington will take responsibility and turn it into a nature reserve with a pathway going through.

“Robin Spencer at Shropshire Lavender got it straight away. He told us how much soil we need, what we need to add to it and what patterns to put the flowers in. It’s going to be fantastic.”

Francis Thomas of London Midland said: “We’re delighted that local people are taking interest in adopting Wellington station. We made a commitment to get closer to the communities we serve and station adoption is a great way of doing that.

“It’s a win-win because local people adopt the station, the station improves, we get a more welcoming station. The whole community benefits. We’re really grateful to the people of Wellington who have got involved in this. We’re looking to roll out the scheme across our network.”