Staff from Mary’s Youth Club and the Compton Arms work together on a fundraising event

A 50-YEAR-OLD youth club short of cash has been helped by a nearby pub.

Nick Stephens at the Compton Arms in Highbury allowed his bar to be used for a fund-raising and networking event for Mary’s Youth Club, which has been part of life in the area for 50 years.

It is based at the community centre at St Mary’s Church in Upper Street but the Diocese of Westminster has changed the way it operates the building and now controls bookings from outside groups.

“It was Nick who sought out creating a partnership with us. It was amazing,” said Sally Baxter, who is due to take over as CEO at the charity next month after seven years as a youth worker.

Mr Stephens runs a second pub in Hackney, The Gun, which works with a local youth club called Hackney Quest.

Ms Baxter said: “He wanted to connect with a group in the community – he is very community-minded. And it’s so great because it literally is like our local pub.

“St Mary’s Church is now running their building, so we no longer get any revenue from the rent of the building – which actually is a loss between £70,000 and £80,000 pounds a year to us.”

She said the fund­raising evening on Sep­tember 5 was a refreshing break from the norm for the team.

“I never get to see my friends in the evening because I’m always at the youth club,” she said.

“The fact that they’re able to not just support us with money, but also with opportunities is great,” she said. “I’m excited to see what can happen next.”

Mr Stephens said he reached out to the youth club to “put something back” after a groundswell of local support followed a licence review against the Compton.

“Basically, I just think a pub should be vital to its community,” he said.

“It should be putting something back in.

“The Compton being the way it is, with everything that happened last year and all the support we got, we hadn’t really been doing anything here and I just felt like we should be putting something back.”

Alongside a mocktail class for the young people, which was held earlier this month, Mr Stephens plans to hold more fundraising evenings for Mary’s, alongside networking opportunities.