Greenwich’s Olympic equestrian centre has closed and could be sold off

A Greenwich Council-owned equestrian centre built in the wake of the London Olympics has been closed and could be sold after the college involved pulled out of the project.

The Greenwich Equestrian Centre opened in Shooters Hill in 2013, offering training in equestrian skills run by Hadlow College. It also offered riding lessons to local people, which was a condition of its planning permission.

A businesswoman who took those riding lessons now wants to take over the Olympic legacy project and keep it open for the community, but has said the council is not listening to her ideas. Tao Baker has now started a petition to save the centre.

The opening of the centre followed Greenwich Park’s hosting of equestrian events in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, with surface material from that course being used at the centre. It included a hydrotherapy pool for horses, a cold-water spa, arenas and stabling for about 20 horses.

Hadlow had a 15-year lease on the site, paying only a peppercorn rent. But the college went into administration in 2019, with North Kent College taking over its equestrian courses. 

Baker, who has a background in banking, told The Greenwich Wire that staff left and services dwindled after North Kent took over, and the riding school was closed.

North Kent pulled out of the Shooters Hill centre on July 31, and the centre is now fenced off with security on site. It would only say on Monday that it was “no longer using the facilities at Greenwich”.

The college cost £1.6 million, with the money coming from a number of bodies. The council was reported at the time to have contributed £250,000. Another £250,000 came from the British Equestrian Foundation.

Chris Roberts, the council leader at the time, said it would “not only introduce thousands of London children to the thrill of horse riding”, but would “also provide educational and training opportunities for many people for years to come”. 

Its opening was controversial, with Woodlands Farm – which is next door to the centre – objecting, while opponents of Greenwich Park’s use in the Olympics mocked it as a “horse spa”. The project also meant the eviction of donkeys that used to offer rides to children on Blackheath; they were found new homes in Eltham. 

Despite the outlay of public funds and the centre carrying the council’s branding, its performance was not scrutinised by councillors.

Baker said that there was a two-year waiting list for riding lessons at its peak. “North Kent College stopped advertising the facilities, they stopped doing open days and started to run it down,” she said.

At the beginning of the year she heard that North Kent was “trying to get out of the lease” and started trying to save the centre, with a plan to run it as a business and open it up to the community.

“I read the council’s health and wellbeing strategy, and through this we could get adults more active and expose young people to careers in equestrianism.

“Not everyone’s going to want to play softball or go to Sutcliffe Park sports centre but there are so many careers in equestrianism.”

The service level agreement between the council and Hadlow said that the college had to provide 82 hours of horse riding lessons each week, at evenings and weekends.

But an email from the Labour-run council to Baker said that North Kent had stopped offering public access because of Ofsted rules, a claim she disputes. The council also claimed the centre was no longer financially viable and that it was considering “all options” for the site amid a review of its properties. 

Sport England would have to consent to a sale of the site because it helped fund the centre.

Baker insists the centre could have a future in new hands. She said: “There’s so much good we could do but they don’t want to work with me. I’m beyond frustrated.”A Greenwich Council spokesperson told The Greenwich Wire that it had made no decisions on the future of the site.

The petition to save the centre can be found at change.org.

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