Welcome To Our Safe House
This project was put together by Bisola Popoola and I. This series explains the origins and journey of Youth Social Enterprise Safe House London. Safe House Ldn helps underprivileged young people in East London, to achieve their fullest potential through creative activities, live projects/events and mentoring. www.safehouselondon.com Words by Bisola Popoola Shot by me
Nye Bevan Community Hall and Youth Club were safe spaces in Hackney for local people to come together for celebrations and engage in uplifting activities that brought together multiple generations. Our youth club gave us the opportunity to develop life skills, something that wasn’t taught at school. From developing communication skills with other young people, to understanding the meaning of discipline from Youth Workers, to offsite experiences at the local shop with a shopping list for cooking, to having fun with healthy competitions and so much more.
The Youth Club now exists in a new location close by and we are yet to find out what the future holds for this building. The fence preventing young people from trespassing, replicates the design of the exterior, of a prison’s infrastructure. This particular layout is the view incarcerated people are waking up to every day and we wonder whether this current set-up in the area is a reflection of a premeditated experience for individuals in our community.
We’re on a quest to discover what a ‘modern-day safe space’ looks like, feels like and how it can positively impact young people and support families’. Feel free to roll with us on this journey.
We’re taking you on a little social history journey of some of our iconic safe spaces/houses in the area. Does this building look familiar? Formally known as the 18-story council tower and locally known as ‘pink-block’; is now a private property named, Landmark Heights.
Prior to the well-known demolition of the 4 tower blocks that sat adjacent to this, all 5 blocks housed a large percentage of deprived and poor people. The buildings became infested and continuously damp due to improper cladding used that was not suitable for UK weather conditions.
By 1995, around 15,500 people lost their homes, some people were rehoused nearby in low-rise houses to bring back the community spirit while other people/families experienced extreme homelessness or spent a significant time in hotels or bed and breakfasts.
Present day, we look at this private, luxurious tower that sits mighty, tall and strong and wonder how we offer the facilities in this building to our local deprived residents. Everybody is deserving the finer things in life, and it should not be restricted by class or affluence.
The block has been a safe space for generations of young people. It was a warm spot to chill in when it was cold outside, and a little change of environment from standing in the square.
Friends, acquaintances and young residents hung out in this space to escape patrolling police or the mentally strained realities of going back home, which seemed worse than the roads for some people. A lot of the time it was just about being around like-minded people in a familiar space that felt safe, and more importantly, felt close to or like home.
We’ll talk about the square in more detail, soon.
Pubs are commonly known for social gatherings over beverages and food, mainly supported by watching sports, loud chanting and celebrations. Square Pub was known for bringing the community together (over 18’s), some residents would use the space to host special occasions and events, a lot of which the locals would automatically be invited to and would end up with the streets filled with people, enjoying themselves. BBQs (the Jerk Man) would post up outside, whilst pool games would take place inside. Everyone was cool with Management and our different cultures were strongly highlighted.
The Police would make regular visits in aid to shut down specific occasions, and ultimately this was of the very few places, in a majority working-class environment where people could get together, for a good time and escapism.
We don’t know what the future holds for this space, but we do hope for the revival of a multi-cultural, social, affordable and accessible safe space for parents and families to visit as often as possible.
The Pedro Club (@thepedroclub) has been supporting the Hackney community since 1929 and is one of the longest standing youth clubs in London. To this day, they provide a safe space, offering programmes of physical, educational and other activities as a means of relieving unemployment and advancing education. This is one of the monumental hubs that kept young people off the streets, away from trouble and an opportunity to connect the locals in a protected environment, whilst being taught necessary life skills for our advancement.
Pedro is currently run by a superhero in our eyes; former Super Middleweight Boxing Champion, James Cook MBE (@jamescookmbe) who has been a longstanding advocate for young people. We appreciate your continued hard work for the community and really hope the Pedro Club achieves the funding necessary to change lives, positively!
Please support the continued hard work that they are doing in our community - thank you for all that you do from the team here at Safe House.
pedroclub.com info@pedroclub.com
The Pedro Club registered charity number 303022
Whether you hold religious values or not, the All Souls Community and building have been an integral part of Safe Houses’ inception, particularly for our Founder, Bisola. She would attend weekly services, as an “escape from the busyness of the working week. It’s been a long-term Safe House for me, we’re talking over 20-odd years and that mind-time did so much for my spiritual growth.”
Alongside the building, it’s been the community of people who make the space impactful. The Church community were the first to help raise funds for our initial event in 2018 and have provided spaces for us to host projects and events since then; including our upcoming, annual initiative and celebration, The Christmas Present Drive. We are grateful for the support All Souls have and continue to give us and we look forward to December as we prepare for our first and final, physical function of 2020! More details coming soon.
