Camden Council is selling the building containing the former Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre on the corner of Goodge Place and Tottenham Street, half a century after it first opened as an advice centre and place of community action.
As the ground floor and basement of the building is listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) the council has issued a public notice stating its intentions, published in the Camden New Journal newspaper this week.
The notice states that there will be “an interim moratorium period” on the sale until 3 February 2025 so that any “community interest group” can approach the council with a view to buying the property.
“If a local community group makes a written request to the local authority during the interim moratorium period to be treated as a potential bidder, then a ‘full moratorium period’ of six months applies (until 23 June 2025),” states the public notice.
If no request is received, the council is free to sell the building.
Camden Council has owned 39 Tottenham Street since the mid-1970s. The building which dates from around 1780 has a Grade II heritage listing and has been empty since July 2019.
The ground floor and basement was listed as an ACV by Camden Council after a successful application by The Fitzrovia Trust Ltd. The listing expires on 23 September 2028 but can be renewed after another application.
The lower floors of the building opened as the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Centre in 1975 after volunteers got together to refurbish a former glass shop and raised money to employ staff to provide a professional housing and welfare advice service. Upstairs was in use as short-life housing.
It flourished as a centre for support campaigns to improve housing and community facilities for the district. The Fitzrovia News was also published from the building.
The Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association left the building in the summer of 2019 and its housing and welfare advice service is now run from the nearby Fitzrovia Community Centre in Foley Street.
Camden Council, Assets of Community Value.
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