Ringcross Community Centre closed last September

THE former manager of Ringcross Community Centre has accused landlords Hyde Housing of “neglecting” the community by not reinstating the space, months after it was closed down.

The community centre, off Caledonian Road, shut its doors last September and has since been boarded up after squatters entered the property in December.

Savvas Panas, the former chair of the charity Pilion Trust which ran the community centre, said the centre closed due to financial difficulties and was ordered into liquidation by HMRC in September 2025. Mr Panas said that, around the same time, he had a heart attack that meant he could no longer work for the charity.

He said Pilion had worked closely over nine years with Hyde, who own the housing surrounding the community centre, but the relationship has since broken down.
When the charity eventually went into liquidation, he said, Hyde “changed the locks and threw them out”, without putting a contingency plan in place for the centre, which has left unmet needs in the community six months on.

Mr Panas told the Tribune: “There is a big need for a community centre in the area, the impact the closure has had has been massive. There’s no information or knowledge on what will be happening with the building, but I believe that Hyde wants to turn it into housing, and not social housing, but private rent.

“Everybody, from the central government to the social workers, are saying that more spaces are needed for the young people and children.

“And so why are they [Hyde] neglecting that? I just want them to become answerable on all this.”

Pilion Trust ran Ringcross Community Centre for nine years, hosting dinners, funerals, weddings and more for the diverse population nearby, as well as a food bank. Mr Panas said that they were open seven days a week, from morning until night, and that there is now nowhere for these families to go.

He said he felt there was a duty for both Hyde and the council to work towards reopening “Islington’s busiest” community centre to prevent the nearby community from “becoming separated”:

“There were Muslim, Christian, West Indian, African, and Asian families who used the space.

“We cried with them, we laughed with them, they buried their family, they gave birth with their families, you know, like we were part of that community and everybody could express it,” he said.

“Now they’ve got nowhere to go to mourn, they’ve got nowhere to go to celebrate, they’ve got nowhere to go and do anything.”

Mr Panas called Islington Council to help reopen the site. He said: “When local politicians wanted photo opportunities, they were quite keen to come and be photographed and get involved with the centre. When there was a bit of hardship, they were nowhere to be seen.”

A joint statement from the Laycock Ward councillors said: “Ring­cross Community Centre has always been important to our community. That is why we supported activities through funding, attended countless events at the centre and held our surgeries and police ward panel there. We did this without seeking publicity. We cherished the centre and viewed its manager as a friend.

“The news of the centre closing was a shock to us all. Hyde Housing informed us that it was due to insolvency of the charity and a failed tax payment. We were not approached by the trust for help, nor told how bad things were. Even then, the council could not have acted regarding a charity and its tax issues.

“Since the closure, we have been working to push Hyde to get the building back into use, including asking them to secure and repair the site, and consult households as to how this vital space can have a future in the community.”

An Islington Council spokesperson added: “Over the past few years, the council has received no grant funding applications from the Pilion Trust across any of the funding streams available to them. The council remains committed to supporting a thriving voluntary and community sector through grant funding, partnerships and targeted support.”

A Hyde Housing spokesperson said: “There are things we need to do before decisions about the future of Ringcross can be made. This includes consulting residents and other stakeholders on the services they would like to see locally, as well as assessing the building’s condition. In the meantime, we’ve ensured there continues to be strong local delivery of services in the area, through our partners operating from other Hyde-owned community buildings. This includes Prospex at the Underground Youth Club and Light Project Pro International at The Exchange.”