By Isobel Williams via SWNS
The world’s first YMCA is to close in the New Year after being sold to a developer of luxury flats and hotels.
Central YMCA, which originally opened in 1911, is now central London’s largest gym which also provides health and education programs to the local community.
The 116,000 sq ft building on Great Russell Street has now been sold to Criterion Capital and will shut in February 2025.
The YMCA has disposed of the site because of demographic changes, the age of the building and soaring maintenance costs.
But members say the loss will be a blow to the local community and fear the building will ‘just become another hotel’.
Josh Von Uexkull, 28, has now set up a Change.org petition to stop the closure, which has soared in popularity with over 4,800 signatures.
The artist, from Camden, has been a member at the center since he was three years old and has worked there as a fitness adviser and lifeguard for 25 years.
He said: “I was absolutely devastated. There are heartbreaking stories coming in about how the older members can’t sleep because they have heard the news.
“I think this will be one of the biggest injustices to ever happen in the city as a whole.
“The members and staff were not consulted at all. We feel completely helpless.
“It will be incredibly difficult for some staff because this is the only place they can do their job. This will be absolutely life-changing for them.
“I work here because of my love for it, I could be paid better elsewhere.”
Despite losing his own job, Josh says his main worry is the over 3,000 members who will now have nowhere to go.
One member, Garry Brough, 57, from Camden, says he first attended the YMCA in 1997 to take part in their Positive Health Programme for people living with HIV.
The NHS worker says the classes were a “lifeline” for him, helping him build up his fitness as he was suffering from lung cancer and pneumonia.
The program even inspired him to start teaching Pilates classes at the center, which he has done for the last 20 years.
He said: “The YMCA completely transformed my life. I don’t know what I would have done without it.
“People really depend on the community programs. It was a lifeline to me.
“It is not just a gym, it is a hub for people to connect and feel a part of something.”
Brough received an email telling him about the closure, which was devastating for both him and his class.
He added: “It has been a huge shock. I couldn’t believe it was closing. It is astonishing that you can give lifelong members two months’ notice.
“I hope there is something we can do to stop this. It is shocking to think that the idea of community health and wellbeing has been deprioritized to make another hotel.”
The site includes a 25-meter swimming pool, a sauna, a steam room, six exercise studios and a cycling studio.
Alice MacDonnell, 35, has been taking her 12-year-old son Toulouse to basketball practice at the YMCA for four years.
The single mom-of-one from Soho says the center is an integral part of the community, being used by all the local schools as well as older residents.
She said: “It is such an integral part of the whole community. That place is so important, you get people from every background and every financial bracket.
“They provide something for the community that nowhere else does in central London. It will be a complete depletion of resources for the community.
“It is always completely packed. It is really shocking. There is nowhere else we can go.
“It is insane. There is definitely an agenda to move families out of central London, and we need to fight back. Children are being designed out of London.
“It just seems really unfair. Everyone wants to save it, we would all be happy to pay more just to keep it there.”
Leigh Wildman, 62, says he is really disappointed by the news of the closure as he has been swimming weekly at the club for the last four years.
The musician from Soho, who was born round the corner from the YMCA, says he was hoping to use the center to keep fit in his retirement.
He said: “There is a really lovely atmosphere at the YMCA. It is fantastic and very affordable for someone like me – a working Londoner.
“It was great for my mental health and physical health.
“Local people like me are very disappointed, we have lost a great community atmosphere.
“I can’t believe it. Where are we all going to go? I think it is a terrible shame.
“This is another disappearing part of London that is going to be swept away so that they can make the city into a theme park for tourists.”
Many more members have been banding together to oppose the closure, even starting the Save the Central YMCA Club.
Central YMCA chief executive Ryan Palmer said: “For a number of months, the trustees and senior leadership team at CYMCA have been conducting a strategic review to determine how best to deliver for our beneficiaries in light of the mounting challenges facing the charitable sector.â¯
“With demographic changes in the city centre; the ageing of the Club building and accessibility and spacing issues; changes to health & wellbeing practices, and soaring 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.â¯â¯
“Therefore, after much consideration and with the best interests of the charity and our beneficiaries at heart, we have concluded theâ¯sale of the 112 Great Russell Street site.”
“This means that the Central YMCA Club at 112 Great Russell Street will cease trading on 7th February 2025.”
Omar Aziz, of Criterion Capital, told Hospitality Investor: “This acquisition is a partnership founded on trust and mutual respect.
“From the beginning, our shared vision with Central YMCA has been to recognise the importance of this historic site, while transforming it into an economically viable and vibrant space that meets the needs of future generations, ensuring it remains relevant and meaningful to contemporary needs.”
Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/save-central-ymca-club
