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Fury at plans to shut down adult education centre for two years
Evening Standard1 May 2008
Students at one of the oldest adult education centres in Britain fear the building is to be closed down.
People taking classes at the Bethnal Green Centre will be moved to other venues for two years because pupils from Bethnal Green Technology College need to use the centre while their premises are renovated.
But the students fear Tower Hamlets council will not allow them back.
A spokesman for the Bethnal Green Centre Support Group said: "Tower Hamlets is in effect closing down a perfectly good centre. There is no logic to this. In fact it's a really stupid idea, a logistical nightmare."
The beginnings of the centre go to the years after the First World War, when it was used to rehabilitate returning soldiers. The group has accused the council of planning to sell the building to developers.
A Tower Hamlets spokeswoman said: "There is general consideration of all council buildings on a regular basis. Any suggestion that there are definite plans for the building to be sold are inaccurate."
She said day courses would be held at the nearby Rich Mix Centre.
