Southampton City Council is looking for a charity or community group to lease ‘St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre’, “at a low cost for a long term”, for an April start.
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Although the building will remain wholly owned by Southampton City Council, the authority says it’s looking for an organisation with the “vision and commitment required to enable greater use of the building to support diverse communities and a wide range of needs”.
The former drill hall and Grade II listed building on St Mary’s Road seemed to have become something of a political football, seeing closure during the Conservative’s brief period in control of the council between 2021 and 2022.
There was even a demonstration organised in February 2022 calling on the council to keep it open.
The following Labour administration reopened it in August 2022 after the party took control of the council in May.
Of the current call for an operator, council leader Cllr Lorna Fielker said: “St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre is a much loved and much needed community building that means a lot to the local community and groups who use it.
“The council is committed to fixing the roof and getting the building into a safe state for a community organisation to take it on and develop their own exciting plans. This marks and exciting new chapter in the history of the building which will benefit the local community.”