Central YMCA sold and will close to members in February 2025 – The Fitzrovia News

The “world’s first YMCA”, located on Great Russell Street, has been sold and will close to its members in February 2025, the charity that runs it has announced.

Opened in 1977 on the site of a previous YMCA building on Tottenham Court Road in Fitzrovia, the facility includes a 25 metre swimming pool, sauna, steam room, exercise studios, and offers over a hundred fitness classes every week.

In an announcement on its website this week, chief executive of the Central YMCA, Ryan Palmer, says the charity has been “conducting a strategic review” due to the “mounting challenges” facing the charitable sector. 

Palmer cites “demographic changes” in the city centre and an ageing building with “soaring site maintenance costs” has meant its operation at Great Russell Street is no longer financially viable as the cost of operating the club is not being covered by the number of members using it.  

“Therefore, after much consideration and with the best interests of the charity and our beneficiaries at heart, we have concluded the sale of the 112 Great Russell Street site.

“This means that the Central YMCA Club at 112 Great Russell Street will cease trading on 7 February 2025,” says Palmer.

One long-time member of the club told The Fitzrovia News they were very sad to receive the news: “I’m really upset about this. They have just spent a lot of money replacing the filters of the swimming pool. The warm pool, sauna and steam room are fabulous.”

Central YMCA says it wants to continue to meet the needs of the less privileged and under-represented in ways that will prove most valuable to them.

“This sale will allow us to reinvest in more sustainable, impactful, and forward-looking ways of broadening our service provision, better serving both existing and new communities,” says Palmer.

The Central YMCA site occupies the ground and lower floors of a large brutalist style block of varying heights up to 14 storeys above ground, covering a whole city block bounded by Great Russell Street, Tottenham Court Road, Bedford Avenue and Adeline Place. It was designed by Ellesworth Sykes Partnership.

No further information has been released about the sale or the future of the rest of building complex which has undergone a number of changes in recent years.

There are a mixture of commercial uses at ground floor fronting Tottenham Court Road, with the entrance to the St Giles Hotel fronting Bedford Avenue and occupying most of the upper floors. In 2016 planning permission was given to convert a former underground car park into a windowless hotel four and five floors beneath the site.

According to the Central YMCA’s latest annual report the charity has a number of freehold and leasehold interests on the site. This year it was due to conclude the sale of its offices on the site at 111 Great Russell Street for around £3.5mn, states the report.

Founded in 1844 by George Williams (1821-1905) and a group of fellow drapers they created what went on to become the global YMCA movement. The original Central YMCA building (pictured above) on the same site opened in 1911, designed by architect R Plumbe, and included halls for meetings, restaurants, a gym, swimming baths, social rooms, a boys department and 240 bedrooms, states a history timeline of the site.

A petition against the closure “Save Central YMCA Club” has been started and has gained over 600 signatures, and a campaign website has also been set up: savetheymcaclub.org

This story was updated on the evening of Tuesday 3 December to include a reference to a petition against the closure; and updated again on the evening of Thursday 5 December to include details of the campaign website.

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