It’s fun to stay at the YMCA, but not for much longer as central London branch is set to close

A Westminster resident has described the pending closure of the Great Russell Street YMCA as a ‘huge loss’, adding it feels as if it is another London facility disappearing “in the interest of tourists and big businesses rather than the local communities”.

In December, the YMCA announced the Great Russell Street site would be closing on February 7.

Chief executive Ryan Palmer wrote in a statement that due to pressures such as local demographic changes and rising site maintenance costs, “it has become clear that the cost of operations at the club are now not being covered by the number of members the club can sustain”.

He added: “Therefore, after much consideration and with the best interests of the charity and our beneficiaries at heart, we have concluded the sale of the 112 Great Russell Street site.”

The site was sold at the end of last year to property company Criterion Capital, which has been approached for comment.

The Central YMCA was the world’s first, opening in 1844. It has been at its current Great Russell Street site since 1977. While technically in Camden it is a short distance from the border with Westminster.

Central London’s largest gym and wellbeing centre, its facilities, which include exercise studios, a 25-metre swimming pool and an arts studio, are used by groups such as Soho Parish school as well as individual members.

David Bieda, who has been using the Great Russell Street YMCA since it opened, is a Soho resident and member of the Save the Central YMCA Club committee.

He said: “The more I have been involved the more I have realised how extraordinary it is.

“It provides for an enormous age range, and an enormous variety of things, not just sports. It’s really a well-being centre.

“The main issue is why didn’t they tell the thousands of users and ask people to come up with solutions to their financial problems?”

Doron Jacobs, 65, is another Westminster resident who regularly attends the club.

“It’s a huge loss, really,” he said. “I relatively recently retired and I was looking for something to do with my health and fitness, and a friend who attends suggested I should go to the YMCA.

“My overriding feeling is this is just another facility in London being lost in the interest of tourists and big businesses rather than the local communities.”

Fiona Rubens, 55, said her 92-year-old father Basil Rubens has attended the YMCA since 1985. She said: “We are devastated and perplexed as to who would not see this as the most exemplary community space and want to close this down. This is an ecosystem supporting so many groups in the middle of London.

“This place has no borders and brings together every person from any walk of life and opinion, in an organic way. It supports schools, hospitals, and the youth who may have no space in central London to throw a basketball.”

The campaign group received the support of the local authority in Camden and its call for a six-month pause to the closure to enable a way to be found to run the facilities on a long-term basis under a new brand.

A petition to save the premises has also received just over 7,000 signatures.

But when asked whether it could be saved, the YMCA said: “Regrettably this is not a feasible scenario. The sale has been completed, and the rising costs, declining utilisation and projected maintenance costs make continued operations untenable.”

Criterion Capital has yet to publicly announce its plans for the YMCA building.

Pictured top: The Great Russell Street YMCA (Picture: LDRS)