Much loved Bognor Regis youth club saved as council gifts venue

The club meets in the former FinditOut Centre in Church Path every week, a facility which was deemed ‘surplus to operational requirements’ last year, after the council restructured its Early Help Service.

Another former youth club, The Phoenix Centre on Westloats Lane, was also closed.

Since then, County Council officers have decided to transfer the venue, as well as its annexe, to the volunteers and staff of The 39 Club for 25 years, rent free.

“The Council believes that transferring appropriate public assets to communities leads to more responsive services that better meet local people’s priorities,” the council’s final published decision reads. It’s hoped the transfer of the venue will ‘empower and strengthen' the community, meeting a wider need for youth provision in the Bognor Regis area.

The news comes months after Sussex Clubs for Young People – the charity behind The 39 Club – launched an online petition, hoping to gain control of the building.

At the time, volunteers were relegated to the club’s annexe – a barebones facility with no proper toilets or kitchen not much bigger than a studio flat. Staff felt the limited space gave them little scope to entertain their handful of regulars, and described how much more they could do with access to the full building.

One member of staff said access to the whole facility would give her the chance to “run daytime education and homework clubs,” as well as “space for art and music groups.”

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