The Salvation Army Bathurst has been on a disjointed journey to find premises to operate from since its Stewart Street establishment sold in April 2020 and its Family Store closed earlier this year in March.

Salvation Army Bathurst corps officer Colin Young said they had plans to move into the old Beck's Bakery site on George Street, as reported in the Western Advocate in May, but those plans fell through.

"We did all the background investigation to make sure the building would be right for us and we worked out that it's not going to work," Mr Young said.

"What we hope to achieve is all the Salvation Army operations in one building and it just wasn't going to work."

The Salvation Army has been based at The Neighbourhood Centre while they've been on the search for a new establishment.

However they're desperately in need of a bigger space and the combination of the current market and the fact that The Salvation Army is fully self-funded is proving problematic.

"The Neighbourhood Centre's been very very good to us ... I can't say enough about them they're just fabulous." Mr Young said.

"We've come to the conclusion it's going to be unlikely that we'll get everything into the one centre.

"The real estate market is obviously very healthy in Bathurst so we've come to the conclusion we're more likely going to have to find a single site for our new Salvo Store and then another site which will contain the community services and our religious services."

Despite the lengthy search, Mr Young said they've received a lot of help from local real estate agents and the council.

The Salvation Army has identified a few sites that could potentially work out but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Some locals were concerned The Salvation Army may not stay in town but Mr Young said their commitment to Bathurst is as strong as ever.

They also have new ministry worker who was recently employed, Steve Medved, and he will be running the operation in Bathurst starting next year.

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