Boxing club turfed out of ‘illegally occupied’ home in Croydon

By Harrison Galliven, Local Democracy Reporter

A Croydon boxing club has said it is struggling to find a new space after the council evicted it from its current home after it moved in without permission.

Members of Charnwood Boxing Academy (CBA) said they were ‘up against’ other community groups which have had their buildings sold, as Croydon council embarks on a wide-ranging programme of selling off assets and cutting its costs.

However the council said the site, occupied by Charnwood until February, in Charnwood Road, Thornton Heath, differs in that the eviction was part of a long-running effort to reclaim it, after the club moved there in April 2023 “illegally”, claiming they’d been promised a site.

While Croydon council has sold off the building, it says it was bought by another community group. CBA still feels the council is harming groups like theirs by continuing to sell off what they see as ‘vital community assets’.

One volunteer, David Simpson, said: “The fact that there’s a lot of demand and not enough community spaces tells you a story about the current situation.”

At the former site, which had served as a boxing gym for 45 years, CBA ran three-hour sessions from Monday to Friday each week.

While the club has been able to arrange two one-hour sessions per week at the Croydon Sports Arena in South Norwood, this is a far cry from what its 30 members require. While 22 of its members are officially carded with England Boxing, and many fight professionally, they currently lack the ring and punchbags needed to train properly.

According to Mr Simpson, the club’s efforts to secure a new venue for its members have so far been unsuccessful. He said: “It seems a huge shame that the building is now deemed surplus to requirement, despite it being a building that benefits the community.

“There’s been a need for it for 45 years, I don’t know why there wouldn’t be a need for it now.”

In an effort to tackle its £1.4bn “toxic” debt, the council is currently undertaking a tiered sale of its assets. This has seen everything from car parks to shopping complexes sold off.

However, many of these sold buildings also previously housed charities and community groups. The council maintains that it has engaged with all tenants and groups impacted, or potentially impacted, by these sales.

The council sent bailiffs to the gym in February and employed a security guard to prevent access for a week. Following the eviction, Mr Simpson set up a fundraising page to gather financial support for the club.

The club, which is also hosting a charity comedy night on March 27, hopes the funds can be used to help it secure a home for Croydon’s future boxing champions.

A spokesman for Croydon council said: “Charnwood Boxing Academy illegally occupied the publicly owned building in April 2023, when it was already listed for sale. They were given notice to vacate but failed to do so and declined to work with the council to reach a solution. Another community group has purchased the building and will use the space to serve the community now it has been vacated by the club.

“With the current financial pressures we have, we need to optimise the use of council-owned properties. The proposed sale of some council-owned properties has been necessary, to help the borough become financially stable.”

Pictured top: Charnwood Boxing Academy’s former home in Thornton Heath, which housed a boxing gym for the past 45 years (Picture: Charnwood Boxing Academy)