THE much-loved high street community centre Irownworks has been saved from the imminent threat of closure after overwhelming support.

The Southend venue revealed last week that it would be closing its doors today "unless there is a miracle", despite a desperate fundraising campaign to secure its future over the past six months.

Its current funding from the Government, secured by Southend Council as part of the High Street regeneration project, expired on February 9.

Following the announcement on Friday, owners Ami and Natalie Solomons say the response from the community has been "overwhelming", and now the centre has been saved thanks to a new advertising screen, a membership scheme, and fresh donations.

Natalie said: "We were totally overwhelmed by all of the hundreds of messages of support for The Ironworks – we were actually flabbergasted.

"The next day Ami and I agreed that we needed to give this one more fight! So over the last 6 days we really have.

"A long standing friend and colleague Andy Barak Smith, without us knowing, caused the first excitement, when he photoshopped the new LED sign on the side of the Victoria Shopping Centre – with 'save the Ironworks'.

 "This caused some reaction and we received a call from Progressive Media, who are the company that rent the space for it from The Victoria, offering the income from advertising space of bookings they had already sold."

The Ironworks also had new people coming in with donations, including Southend trucking company Unitruc, which helped the sisters to pay the rent on Wednesday.

Since then, they received another generous from the owners of Atlantic Pacific Shipping company - Ashley and Chrissy Nichols - and £1,070 raised by Tom Wilding and Andy Webb who publicly had their chests waxed to save the Ironworks.

Well-known entrepreneur and rapper Sonny Green also came up with the idea of a membership club, which Natalie says is "ultimately going to sustain us".

The new Ironworks Membership Subscription has now launched, which the team say will be a little trial and error to start but they are confident can work.

To sign up for the membership, supporters will fill in a form at the Ironworks, which the team will explain.

Aston Line, Labour councillor for Westborough Ward said: "This is truly fantastic news, but it is absolutely vital that Southenders appreciate the precariousness of the situation.

"The recent threat of closure has made people realise how important The Ironworks is to our community. If we want to ensure it’s long term viability, it is essential that we support it. We have to use it, or we’ll lose it."