Squash fans plead with council to save courts
CAMPAIGNERS are calling on Islington Council chief James Kempton to support getting a compulsory purchase order on the building known around the globe as the "Home of Squash".
The Lamb's Squash Club in Lamb's Passage, Finsbury, has been a venue for world squash championships for a quarter of a century. But the site has been sold to a developer which wants to demolish it and replace it with flats and offices.
Ken Pottinger, who was expelled from the club after launching a campaign to keep it running, said: "The loss of these nine squash courts would be a disaster for national and international squash and the revitalised development of the game as one of the UK's top sports."
He added: "We are asking Islington Council to consider acquiring this facility under compulsory purchase orders to ensure that the built facility - unique in offering nine squash courts in a central London venue - is not lost to Islington."
The Lamb's Action Team, which represents the club's 1,300 members, has created a business plan which it claims demonstrates how it can make a viable profit from keeping the club open seven days a week.
Mr Pottinger said: "The current operator has a short-term lease on the building which has been bought by a developer for an entirely pedestrian block of flats and offices."
The campaign is supported by various schools across the borough, including Prior Weston School in Bunhill Row, Finsbury.
Islington Council leader, Councillor James Kempton (Liberal Democrat), said: "We had not considered a CPO for the club because there are already good squash facilities in the local area and elsewhere in the borough.
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