THE long hoped-for arts and performance venue underneath Carlisle train station is now one step away from becoming a reality.

Below the city’s busy train station is a hidden warren of tunnel-like rooms. At present, these rooms stand empty.

But it is the vision of 24-year-old Kimberley Watkin to transform the space into a cultural hub for Carlisle.

Now, after submitting a planning application to Carlisle City Council, Kimberley and her partner Adam Hughes are one step away from bringing their Carlisle Undercroft vision alive.

“We’re hoping to start the work in January or February, to be up and running by autumn next year,” said Kimberley.

“The reason it’s taken this long to put planning permission in is because we wanted to make sure we got the right funds to do the work.”

“I’m hoping it’s going to be something that we can all be very proud of. I’ve spent nearly two years working on it,” said Kimberley, a former student at the University of Cumbria.

Kimberley explained what she hopes Carlisle Undercroft will give to the city.

“Everybody has different ideas. The great thing about the space is it’s in the centre of town, it’s very accessible, and it’s a blank canvas for anybody who wishes to use it.

“Art exhibitions, clothes shows, film nights, we’ve had enquiries for weddings, different conferences.

“We’ve had enquiries from London and Birmingham. Bigger cities want to bring their art and their work and their events to our local economy.

“We have about 25 enquiries per week for people to use the space.”

Kimberley, who lives in Denton Holme, Carlisle, admitted that the Carlisle Undercroft project has been a learning curve.

“It’s been very difficult from the very beginning because at first, I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what I was doing,” said Kimberley, who currently works for Virgin Trains in Penrith.

“I had a big idea, and I didn’t know if it could be executed.

“I had to get a lot of support. I had to get a lot of people to believe in the idea.”

Kimberley and her partner Adam were certainly successful in getting people to believe in the idea.

So much so, that this May the couple were recognised for their efforts with an official invite to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding.

“Definitely the invite to the royal wedding helped with a lot more people knowing about it, and giving more of a support network for us,” Kimberley said.

“We raised quite a lot of money from the general public when the wedding stuff was going on.”

“I want to say thank you to the general public for helping us to get this far,” said Kimberley.