A BOXING club based at an ageing Fishponds youth centre has been left reeling after major renovation plans were suddenly dropped by Bristol City Council.
Downend Boxing Club has been based at the Harry Crook Centre in Moorlands Road since 2017.
The council, which owns the centre, announced two years ago that it would demolish and rebuild part of the building, which is around 50 years old, and carry out an “extensive refurbishment” of the rest.
The plan involved a new lead tenant, North Star Academy Trust, moving in to run the centre as a dedicated learning and teaching “resource base” for up to 18 children with behavioural issues, with the boxing club continuing to use part of the site at evenings and weekends.
A planning application was approved in June of last year, and the club had made arrangements with nearby Chester Park school to move there temporarily while the work was carried out.
‘Gobsmacked’
Boxing club coach Craig Turner said: “We had three dates when we were told we were going to move. We were just waiting for the go-ahead.”
However the club and school trusts have now been told, via a video meeting with a senior council manager, that the rebuilding project is not going ahead.
The council says it was cancelled because the planned building would not meet the requirements of the authority’s new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy, which favours larger school settings.
Craig said: “We were completely and utterly gobsmacked.”
As well as the preparations made by the club and schools, the council had sent surveyors into the building. They drilled holes clean through several of the walls, which were left as it was assumed the building was about to be closed, taken down part of the ceiling and dug trenches in the car park and grounds.
‘A lot of kids call it home’
The decision to cancel means the club, which provides training and helps give a purpose to more than 100 children and young people from across the city, has been left in a building which the council’s own planning application says is in poor condition and requires “extensive structural improvements”, with cracks clearly visible in the walls and collapsing drains.
Craig says the way the volunteer-run club and schools have been treated is “appalling”.
He said: “The council don’t realise there are lives in that centre – a lot of the kids call it home.”
As well as its own members, Downend Boxing Club provides coaching and training for boxers from Bristol University, UWE and the RAF at the club.
Craig says everything is done “on a shoestring” by a team of volunteers including local families.
He said: “It’s such a hard slog to fight to keep this club going – now we don’t know how long we’re going to be able to stay there. We had let a lot of things go because we thought it was going to be demolished.”
Club members and coaches say the council must act to ensure it can survive.
‘To me, it’s a family’
Tom Shinner, 15, from Staple Hill, has been with the club a for year, boxing three or four times a week.
He said: “This gym to me is a family – it keeps me busy and keeps me occupied outside of school.
There’s kids I know here that used to be naughty but now they are here, they’ve got discipline
“It’s not just boxing – it’s a sense of belonging.”
Bristol University Boxing Club president Sam Noble said its partnership with the club had been key to building its membership and being able to take part in national student championships.
Fishponds resident Lee Rosenthal has been a volunteer coach for a year and a half, after his son joined and transformed his outlook.
Lee said: “At the time he was struggling at school and we had to home-school him – now he’s enrolled in college.”
Jimmy Connors’ children Miley and Marie have been boxing for two and a half years at the club.
He said: “It gives the kids an awful lot of confidence, mixing with different people from different communities.”
The future of the building will now be considered by the council’s property team, but the authority says there is “no suggestion” the club’s tenancy will be cancelled.
Council children and young people committee chair Councillor Christine Townsend said: “The lack of commitment from the previous administration to progress this project sooner is disappointing and we understand the frustration felt by Downend Boxing Club.
“The council is arranging repair works and will contact the club to confirm details.”