Anti social behaviour at youth centre pushed us out, says martial arts teacher

A martial arts instructor says anti-social behaviour at a youth centre destroyed his business, leaving him with no choice but to move out.

Russell Suthern, who has run White Crane Martial Arts from a training hall at Brighton Youth Centre (BYC) for 20 years, says young people began to terrorise his class of students after a new youth group started a few months ago.

He says because youth centre staff were unwilling to help, he ended up calling police, including to one incident of a young person kicking the door of his class open.

As a result of the ongoing problems, numbers attending his class plummeted, leaving him unable to pay the hall hire for three months, and he has now moved his classes to BHASVIC.

But he says even if he could pay, the centre would not supply alternative spaces when it closes for refurbishment later this year, and there was no guarantee he could have returned once works were complete.

BYC said it did not believe his claims were accurate, declining to specify which ones they dispute.

Mr Suthern said: “I would have kids outside my door screaming and shouting abuse at me; they were throwing things at our door.

“At one point, one of them actually went up to our training room and kicked the door open.

“Every week there was a major problem, when I had my biggest class.

“Of course a lot of my students were intimidated, so people started leaving my classes.

“I was getting anywhere between eight to 12 people per class, and then directly after this new group opened my class numbers plummeted; I was lucky to get four people.

“Even when the kids didn’t directly engage with me, they’d be running around the area outside the front of the class, being very loud with each other, shouting, screaming and swearing, and the staff at the youth centre did nothing to try and stop them.

“They were causing me trouble, and they were also causing a lot of trouble for the residents of the block of flats opposite, Tyson Place, and I know they’ve made complaints.”

BYC has submitted plans for a proposed demolition and rebuild of the centre, redeveloping it to include a cafe, gym and theatre as well as an upgraded skatepark.

Mr Suthern said: “I am not against this. The building is virtually derelict and if it isn’t knocked down soon, it will probably fall down.

“But no provision has been made for the hirers of the centre to have alternative premises while the building work is being done.

“None of the businesses that run out of the centre will be looked after during the rebuild.

“For those people operating on a part time basis, just doing one or two classes a week, this is not too much of a problem, but for me it is a disaster.

He added: “When I was at BYC I had a full time training hall, I had all my equipment laid out and ready for martial arts.

“Now that I’ve moved, I’ve had to put all my stuff in storage and I’m renting a room from BHASVIC, sixth form college a couple of nights a week.

“It’s almost like I’ve had to go right back to the beginning.”

Mr Suthern is now arguing he should not have to pay the outstanding hall rental because of the problems he experienced.

A spokesperson for BYC said: “We host several independent groups who use the building and our facilities who we support in offering the best possible service to young people and other building users, all of whom are kept up to date with regards to changes to our facilities or organisation, and whose concerns are dealt with as they are communicated to us.

“We are always happy to talk to people if they have a concern or if there is a misunderstanding, as it would appear in this situation, and are also happy to support people who work within the BYC if they experience financial difficulty.

“Following on from hearing these claims via Brighton and Hove News, we are pleased say we have reached an amicable solution with White Crane Martial Arts, who – as a result – have now informed us that they have withdrawn their comments.”