A new home for play, creativity, food, music and community in the heart of Ayr.
For generations, The Auld Toy Shop was one of Ayr’s most-loved places — a shop full of wonder, excitement and imagination where children pressed their faces against the windows, chose birthday presents and dreamed about what they might play with next.
The building has stood empty for more than twelve years, but for around three decades before that it was home to a succession of much-loved toy shops, becoming a familiar and cherished part of Ayr’s town centre and childhood memories for generations of local families.
Now, we’re incredibly excited to be giving this special place a new chapter — bringing the building back to life as a space for creativity, community, food, music, making and imagination.
As part of Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective programme, Narture is bringing artists, makers, musicians, writers, cooks and local people together to explore what this place — and Ayr — could become.
Over the next year, The Auld Toy Shop will become a living, evolving community arts space, with workshops, exhibitions, performances, conversations, food, making and events. But importantly, we’re not arriving with a finished plan.
We want to build it with the community.
Our starting question is simple:
What does Ayr need to thrive creatively?
We’ll be working with local people and a diverse group of creative practitioners to listen, experiment and make things happen. Ideas might grow into an exhibition, a workshop, a meal, a gig, a community garden, a print project, a repair session, a performance — or something we haven’t imagined yet.
The Auld Toy Shop will be a place for play, ideas, food, making, music and collective imagination.
It builds on Narture’s belief that everyone is an artist, and that creativity, food and community can help bring life, confidence and possibility back into our town centre.
At the heart of our thinking is a simple idea from Brian Eno:
“Children learn through play, but adults play through art.”
The Auld Toy Shop was once a place built around play — a place where children came to explore, imagine and discover. We want to carry that spirit forward, creating a space where adults and children alike can play, experiment, make, learn and imagine together.
Our longer-term vision is for The Auld Toy Shop to become a permanent People’s Art School and community hub — a welcoming place where people can learn, make, share skills, meet others and take part in creative, cultural and sustainable activity.
Alongside arts and culture, we’re developing ideas around food, repair, reuse, green skills and low-carbon living, including a community kitchen, circular making, creative workshops and potentially a rooftop growing space.
In time, we plan to move our KNEAD bakery, deli and bread shop into the building, bringing food and culture together under one roof and creating a genuinely vibrant hub for baking, art, music, making, learning and community.
The future of The Auld Toy Shop is still being written — and we want the people of Ayr to help write it.
What was once a place where generations came to discover the joy of play can become a place where a new generation discovers the joy of creating, connecting and imagining what’s possible…
