Boxing club struggling to find home after eviction over 'illegal' move

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) say they are 'up against' other community groups who 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 says the site occupied by Charnwood until February, on 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, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "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.

"It seems to me there is a problem for community groups in the area to be able to find spaces. I tried to look into where the club could actually move to, but unfortunately the answer to that was that it was extremely difficult. This is because the number of actual places are few and oversubscribed."

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.

Earlier this year, the LDRS reported that the New Addington Boxing Club was also facing an uncertain future after Croydon decided to sell its gym. Like CBA, it is now struggling to find a suitable home for its members.

Mr Simpson believes the council's current course of action threatens to harm the community groups that many Croydon residents rely on. He added: "If you sell off community assets, where does everyone go? Unless you can appeal to the good nature of businesspeople or if people are charitable enough, I don't see any way around it.

"If you as a council are in £1.4bn worth of debt, why is selling off a building for £400,000 the best way to go about recovering that debt? It is a drop in the ocean."

Croydon Council also put Norbury Park Lawn Tennis Club's future in doubt when it announced its intention to sell the lease on the site. While the club has been given first refusal it is still around £1,700 away from its fundraising target to pay for the bid.

CBA, and other clubs like it, are well known to provide young people with an important outlet after school and higher education. Many also credit boxing clubs with a reduction of crime in surrounding areas. CBA owner Patrick Boothe started the club with his own pension, for this reason. He wanted to support young people through boxing.

After moving into the Charnwood Road gym, albeit without permission, he claims he started to see the benefit of his work on the young members who attended each week. He told the LDRS: "The parents of the kids call us to say thank you. They say that, because of the boxing, there are no more arguments at home. That is worth a million dollars.

"We took 18 months to set the place up, we were helped out by local businesses and groups. The council came right in the middle of the season and destroyed it."

Mr Simpson added: "From the short time I have been with the club I have seen the value in it. I have seen what it means to young people who stick at something and see the value it brings. It teaches discipline and commitment, these are massive lessons you need to learn."

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 spokesperson 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.

"We support and work closely with many clubs and voluntary organisations running activities for young people in our communities. 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."

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