A drop-in centre for senior citizens that was thrown out of its rent-free accommodation by Greenwich Council has been told it will not be able to move back.
The Indian Cultural Society has been in operation since 1964 and ran the centre at the Old Town Hall in Woolwich from 1988. But it had to move out five years ago because of a leaky roof.
Since then the building has been renovated and is expected to reopen later this year as a workspace for creative businesses. There will be no room for the society, which used the space as a base for its members to socialise, take part in exercise classes, learn computer skills and seek advice on pensions and other issues. Many would spend their whole day there.
Those who have been helped by the society include a sub-postmaster caught up in the Horizon scandal, where the Post Office accused people of theft despite knowing there were problems with a recently-installed computer system.
Its members have held protests about their eviction and say that they need a permanent base that is close to the Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, which is just a few metres along Calderwood Street from the Old Town Hall.
Pritpal Sandhu, who runs the society, said: “When we become older, we become more religious and like to go to the temple in the morning. Then they’ll have their lunch and come to the centre, some at twelve, some later.
“If they want to come and gossip, they can come and gossip. Some who aren’t Sikhs just come to the centre and meet old friends.
“It’s a lifeline for people who are eighty, ninety, or people who can’t walk or talk. It’s a lifeline for them. They are mentally and physically better engaged.”
He told The Greenwich Wire that council leader Anthony Okereke had initially promised that they could return – but that officers had put a stop to this. The council denies this.
“In front of many people, he said that we’d been there since 1988, and he’d do his best to get it back,” Sandhu said.
He said the society needed more help from the council – and Okereke – to find new premises.
“I’ve said to him, it’s your duty to look after the senior citizens of your borough. It’s your job to guide them – do you expect an eighty, ninety-year-old person to go and look for properties? You guide them.”
Sandhu believes that with all the development work taking place in Woolwich, there should be money to provide new premises. “You should be having extra income, extra council tax,” he said.
He also said that vital paperwork had gone missing after the council took the space back, along with about £5,000 of computer equipment.
The society has been offered alternative locations, but Singh said these were not suitable and too expensive for a group containing many elderly residents. An upstairs space in the Woolwich Front Room on Powis Street had no lift access and no toilets, while the Tramshed said it could offer space, but this would depend on which rooms were free on any day.
Sandhu said the group had been offered a small room in the Woolwich Centre Library.
“They offered us a box room, six feet by eight feet,” he said. “We have 200 members, and anyone out of our community of thousands can join. That room was made of glass, with no privacy. I explained, how can even 10 people meet and spend the whole day there?”
Talks about moving into a larger room at the library had stalled, he said, while he had also suggested vacant rooms in Woolwich Town Hall’s basement. “They gave one to the [trade] union,” he said.
The society has also used Greenwich University’s Bathway Theatre – behind the Old Town Hall – as a temporary base.
Sandhu, who recently retired from a job in finance, is currently running the society from his home in Abbey Wood – with his family worrying about the work he is taking on. “It’s a very bad situation,” he said.
Earlier this year the society presented a 958-name petition to the council calling for the council to return the society to its old home. Sandhu addressed Wednesday night’s council meeting.
A Greenwich Council spokesperson told The Greenwich Wire: “We are no longer able to give the Indian Cultural Society free premises for its exclusive use and we have never made any promises that it would be able to return to the Old Town Hall.
“For many years the society benefited from an informal arrangement, which was never formalised, but this came to an end when the Old Town Hall needed to be closed for repairs in 2019, and the society has been offered alternative spaces which it has declined.
“In 2021 we successfully secured funding to refurbish the Old Town Hall and transform it into a state-of-the-art workspace. The Indian Cultural Society was informed that it would understandably need to find alternative accommodation as it would not be able to return.
“We have continued to offer the society alternatives – but due to its very specific list of requirements, including being free, and not having to book so its members can come and go when they wish, it has refused them.
“We have been holding various possessions and equipment belonging to the society in storage and would welcome its collection. The council appreciates the work that the society does in the borough and we are willing to keep helping it to find a new home, but it may need to compromise on its expectations.”
Responding to the petition, Okereke told Wednesday night’s meeting: “We have to support all organisations in the borough and balance that. We have taken the Indian Cultural Society around the borough, looking at different venues for them.
“We continue to be open-minded and keep looking at supporting you to find a venue. Lots of cultural organisations are able to support themselves as secure venues, and we are committed to helping you with that.”
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