Wednesday 12th March 2025, 6.30pm at St. Paul’s church.
As we reported last year (see the post below in October), the Jubilee Hall Gym on Covent Garden Piazza is under threat of closure, with plans to sell up to a commercial body.
The Jubilee Sports Hall, as it was then known, was the one space that was kept for the community after the famous ‘Battle for Covent Garden’ that saved the area from the bulldozers in the 1970s. It was granted a long lease at a peppercorn rent so that local people had a lovely, light space for exercise and enjoyment.
Its Board of Trustees is no longer made up of local people, and they are looking at it as a business which is not profitable. They run another community gym in London and two commercial gyms which subsidise the costs of Jubilee Hall. We don’t see anything wrong with this arrangement, at least in the medium-term, but they do. Many charities are run in this way, with their main mission being funded through other activities.
Like many other sports facilities, Jubilee Hall suffered financially during Covid; it has a debt to pay and maintenance costs. We have spent months trying to persuade the trustees to involve the community and to put some effort into fund raising. We also believe that the building has a lot more potential, and it has the massive advantage of paying no rent. But the current trustees refuse to allow experienced local people to join the Board, and see selling the building as the easiest way out.
Last year CGCA applied to have the building designated an Asset of Community Value, which Westminster council granted. But the Board of Trustees has now given notice that they plan to sell anyway, and the community only has until the Summer to make an offer.
Please join us at the public meeting which has been arranged to bring people together to discuss a vision for the building, and a plan to implement it.
CGCA will be speaking, as will people who were part of setting up the Jubilee Hall Trust in the first place, former trustees, and individuals who are willing to step up as new trustees.
It’s very important that as many local people as possible attend, to show that the community cares about the place and wants to see it restored to us. With the loss of the YMCA in Bloomsbury, the Jubilee Hall facility is more important than ever.
Jo ‘s death leaves a gaping hole in our community. Everybody knew Jo. Everybody loved her, and admired her courage in standing up for local people. Even those who opposed the Association, in our many battles over the years, had great affection and respect for her.
Please join us at her funeral on Tuesday 17th December at 2pm, at St. Paul’s Church on the Piazza, and afterwards for refreshments at 24 Henrietta Street.
In lieu of flowers, her family kindly requests donations to the ‘Go Fund Me’ page that has been set up to support her legacy and continue her good work at https://gofund.me/8fde552c
The Jubilee Hall Gym on Covent Garden Piazza is under threat of closure. Plans are underway to sell the 85 remaining years of its lease to a commercial body.
The Jubilee Hall includes the high space with huge windows above the market that is used as a Gym.
The Gym was established in 1984 following a campaign by the local community which secured a 125 year lease on the Hall at a peppercorn rent. It was already being used as a successful community space since 1977, and was part of the famous ‘Battle for Covent Garden’ that saved the area from the bulldozers.
The centre is now the only Gym in central Westminster that is community-focussed, with concessions and classes for residents and workers.
With its spectacular, light and airy main hall, it continues to be an important facility. It is quite unique in Central London, which has surprising pockets of deprivation and need.
A CGCA poster from the 1980s campaign to save the Jubilee Hall from demolition.
Of course, like all historic buildings, the Hall also has some challenges with maintenance costs. However, we believe that an updated strategy could overcome these.
A new vision for the building could expand on the current offering of the Gym and its other facilities, involve more local people, and generate more income to cover its costs.
The answer is not to sell this precious asset, which can never be replaced.
The sale of the lease has been conducted in secret; the community was not offered the opportunity to comment.
Sunday, 12th May 2024. 11am to 5.30pm in St. Paul’s gardens.
The nearest thing that we have to a Village Fete in Covent Garden.
Everyone is welcome to this beautiful, fun, free event in the garden of St. Paul’s by the piazza.
The weather is forecast to be almost entirely sunny! Please come, chat to your neighbours and get in the mood for Summer.
Local volunteers for CGCA will be at our stall all day. We always have some plants for sale … but that’s just a front for catching up with everyone.
There are plenty of other stalls, games, food and perfomances to enjoy.
Of course, the main event is Mr. Punch’s 362nd anniversary – since Samuel Pepys first recorded seeing him in May 1662.
Punch and Judy ‘professors’ come from all over the UK, and even internationally, to present their versions of the more-than-incorrect puppet drama.
Things kick off with a Grand Procession and band at 11am, followed by the special church service at 12 Noon with Mr. Punch in the pulpit. Then music, workshops and dance performances continue until 5.30pm.
Here at Covent Garden Community Association (CGCA) we are looking forward to seeing our neighbourhood re-open for business. For those of us who can, we will need to support our local businesses more than ever in the absence of many visitors.
However, the situation also carries some concerns for the community. For example, we are working very hard to get an amendment to the ‘Business & Planning’ Bill that went through the House of Commons rather quickly on Monday 29th June. We believe that measures to deal with the full impact of some points have not been dealt with in the wording. Westminster council, and the amenity societies in central London, are aligned on this. As is Nickie Aiken, our MP on the Westminster side. But we need to work fast. To this end we have chosen what we believe to be the most glaring issue to highlight for amendment. (more…)
Here at Covent Garden Community Association (CGCA) we are continuing all our usual planning, licensing and environmental work – especially in relation to community safety which is, unfortunately, quite an issue at the moment. There just won’t be any live presentations from developers until restrictions are eased. And, sadly, the May Fayre has had to be cancelled so we won’t see you out in the sunshine then.
Local organisations are are dividing things up between us to support our community, trying not to duplicate efforts. (more…)
The nearest thing that we have to a Village Fete in Covent Garden.
