Colombo Centre

Starting in the mid-70s in SE1, over a period of 10 years, several derelict sites and buildings were brought into ‘community use’.

The Colombo Street story typifies the way community action worked. Starting as a campaign to provide a long overdue park and sports pitches in Hatfields off Blackfriars Road, it became a long struggle to secure a permanent indoor sports and community centre.

Eventually Sainsbury’s sold the site to a developer who, in return for planning permission for an office building on Blackfriars Road, granted a long lease for the canteen. Its future use as a sports centre was thus secure.