Five years ago, Bradford pensioner Jean Walker told the nation about her vision.

She and fellow members of Bradford and District Senior Power received a £50,000 kick-start after using pensioner power to persuade a panel on ITV show Millionaires’ Giveaway that their idea for a People’s Centre for Bradford was worth investing in.

The panel included entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne and Tory peer Lord Jeffrey Archer.

But, frustratingly for Jean and her team, the plans haven’t moved on since then. Their stumbling block is that, while they have the cash from appearing on the programme, they still need suitable premises.

To test support for the People’s Centre, Jean and her team set up The Picnic Parlour – furnished in the style of an old-fashioned parlour with sofas, high backed chairs and coffee tables – at the Handmade in Bradford venue in the former Zavvi music store in the city centre.

Jean was offered the space by Fabric, which runs Handmade in Bradford, occupying the ground floor and showcasing and selling work by local artists.

But next Tuesday, Handmade in Bradford is relocating to premises in Market Street. Fabric director Gideon Seymour says heating costs and business rates had contributed to the decision to move.

He says the team is sad to leave the building, particularly because of the impact on the Picnic Parlour, but they have been liaising with Bradford and District Senior Power to help it find an alternative location.

Bradford Council has since offered the Pavilions, an empty commercial space in Centenary Square, but Jean is conscious that, although it would tide them over on a temporary basis, it would only be for a short time.

News that the Council is acquiring the former Odeon building have also made her consider the site as a potential venue in future.

“It’s not going to happen overnight. Whatever they do, it has to be put in some kind of order,” she says.

Jean has accepted that the cost of building something similar to the Healthy Living Centre in Hull – a site she visited several years ago, which inspired her dream of a People’s Centre in Bradford – would be too prohibitive.

But she believes that developing an existing building in the city centre, with support from the Council and businesses, for use by Bradford’s multi-generational community would surely benefit the city and tackle some social issues.

The saving on the NHS alone should be an incentive, according to Jean. She says one of the biggest issues the city has is loneliness and isolation. She says having a centre to visit, a point of contact to meet other people, means people are not sitting at home on their own.

“You can come into town and feel so isolated if nobody talks to you,” she says, adding that the savings on mental health and well-being services would be “enormous”.

She says being able to talk to people and share a meal is especially important for older people who don’t get out of their homes regularly and rarely get the opportunity to socialise with others.

Jean is surrounded by other mature members of the Bradford community, relaxed and chatting away on easy chairs in The Picnic Parlour where, for the past few weeks, they have been successfully running Wednesday drop-in sessions for people to partake in activities such as games, crafts and line-dancing.

The success of the venture shows that there is a demand for a more permanent facility. “It is very important,” says Jean.

Connie Gallilee is a supporter of the People’s Centre project, and regularly bakes to raise funds for the venture.

For Connie, who will be 100 on her next birthday, and other mature members of Bradford’s community, the People’s Centre would provide an affordable place for many organisations to meet.

The big question is, where can they set up a permanent site? For Jean, finding such premises would be an ambition finally achieved.

She says the success of the Wednesday sessions has given them the motivation to press on with their plans. “I think it has given us the impetus to move to the next step in a more positive way,” she says.