Glasgow charity takes over council-owned community centre with long lease

Julia Lapthorn, from Glasgow City Council, Neil Young, of St Paul's Youth Forum and Cllr Ruairi Kelly at Molendinar Community Centre after the licence to occupy had been granted last year
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A charity which offers “crucial support” to people in the north east of Glasgow has been awarded a long lease on a council-owned community centre.

St Paul’s Youth Forum has been managing Molendinar Community Centre under a licence to occupy, after Glasgow City Council couldn’t afford to reopen the venue following the covid pandemic.

Now, councillors have approved the organisation taking a 25-year lease for the Royston Road building at a rent of £750 per year.

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The deal is being taken forward under the People Make Glasgow Communities (PMGC) scheme, which gives community groups and third sector organisations an opportunity to run local venues.

Glasgow Life, the council’s culture and leisure arm, had a lease on the community centre and ran the facility until it closed in 2020 due to lockdown restrictions.

A report by council officials stated: “Subsequent to the pandemic, Glasgow Life confirmed that it had no immediate plans to reopen Molendinar, and it was made available to lease through the People Make Glasgow Communities programme.”

St Paul’s Youth Forum applied to take over the venue. They were later granted a licence to occupy in April last year, as talks over a lease progressed.

Molendinar Community Centre.
Molendinar Community Centre. Image from Google Maps.

Council officials believe the community group offers “crucial support to the community and considers Molendinar to be a suitable venue from which to deliver its core services and to expand”.

The organisation, formed by youth workers in 1997, operates in Blackhill and Provanmill, which rank among the most deprived areas in Scotland.

It states its aim is to “help young people by improving their conditions of life and alleviating the effects of poverty” and focuses on four goals: exercise, eating, education and empowerment.

Built in 2006, the centre includes a large sports hall, dance studio, meeting room, gym, IT suite and community cafe.

Speaking in June last year, after the charity took over the management of the facility, Neil Young, from St Paul’s, said the “beauty of the PMGC model is it is one where hands are held”.

“It is about everybody succeeding rather than just ‘there you go, go and deal with, we don’t want anything to do with this’. That support that we’ve had from the council has been second to none.”

He added a closed centre shows “an area of decline” and makes the community feel like it is “not worth anything”. “The council can’t open this on its own, we can’t open this on our own, but together let’s make that work,” he added.

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