‘A community centre is meant to serve the people, not push them out’

Open letter to the manager and trustees of Hampstead Community Centre

• I AM writing because I’m absolutely furious about what’s happening to the Hampstead Community Centre.

This place has been at the heart of our community for years – a space for support, recovery, and connection – and yet under the new management it’s being ripped apart.

Let’s talk about the most obvious, the ridiculous price hikes.

These have hit everyone hard, but it’s been especially brutal for the art classes and children’s services, which so many families rely on.

On top of that, groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous have not only had their fees hiked up but have been pushed to a different location, making them more visible, and therefore more vulnerable. These are people trying to turn their lives around, and instead of supporting them the centre has made them feel unwanted and unwelcome.

It’s completely the opposite of what it should be. This place is supposed to be for the community, not against it.

Then there’s the weird, puritanical attitude being pushed, like the nonsense about life drawing classes being “inappropriate. (Life drawing models told to cover up, February 6).

Who decides that? And why? It feels like an excuse to control and exclude, not to support people.

And the result? Groups that people depend on have either folded or left. People who come here for help, for stability – for a sense of belonging – now have nowhere to go. It’s disgusting.

It really looks like there’s a deliberate effort to run this place into the ground, maybe so it can be shut down and sold off or repurposed for some other reason.

This isn’t just frustrating, it’s cruel.

A community centre is meant to serve the people, not push them out.

People aren’t stupid. We see what’s happening and we’re not going to sit back and watch while the centre is destroyed.

I expect a response explaining exactly how you plan to fix this mess.

BEN ANNESLEY , NW3