Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom

Last updated

Map of social centres in the UK and Ireland in 2006 UK social centre network map.jpg
Map of social centres in the UK and Ireland in 2006

Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can be found in squatted, rented, mortgaged and fully owned buildings. These self-managed social centres differ from community centres in that they are self-organised under anti-authoritarian principles and volunteer-run, without any assistance from the state. The largest number have occurred in London from the 1980s onwards, although projects exist in most cities across the UK, linked in a network. Squatted social centres tend to be quickly evicted and therefore some projects deliberately choose a short-term existence, such as A-Spire in Leeds or the Okasional Café in Manchester. Longer term social centres include the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, the Cowley Club in Brighton and the Sumac Centre in Nottingham, which are co-operatively owned.

Contents

The projects draw influences from self-managed centres in Italy, working men's clubs, and anarchist clubs such as the Rose Street Club. Each individual social centre's activities are determined by its participants. Activities will often include some of the following: bar, bicycle repair workshop, café, cinema, concert venue, exhibition space, free shop, infoshop, language classes, meeting space, migrant support and radical library.

History

The 1 in 12 Club, Bradford The 1 in 12 Club.jpg
The 1 in 12 Club, Bradford

Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can trace their direct roots back to networking between the autonomy centres of the 1980s and early 1990s such as 121 Centre, Centro Iberico, Wapping Autonomy Centre, Warzone and the still extant 1 in 12 Club in Bradford. [1] Other influences include the Diggers, working men's clubs, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in Brazil, the self-managed social centre movement of Italy, and the occupied factories of Argentina. [2] In addition to being inspired by European squatter movements, social centres follow in the tradition of anarchist clubs such as the Rose Street Club and the utopian socialist communities set up by Charles Fourier and Robert Owen in the 19th century. [3]

A wave of social centres were opened in the 1990s, centred around a period of social movement activity which involved protesting against the Criminal Justice Bill, the Poll Tax and the government's road building plans. Likewise, places established in the 2000s were inspired by Peoples' Global Action meetings and the anti-globalization movement. [3]

The fledgling social centre network was profiled in 2008, in the pamphlet What's This Place? which was produced as part of the academic project Autonomous Geographies (funded by the ESRC). [4] In 27 articles, different social centres presented their projects and reflected upon their successes and failures. Slightly earlier in the 2000s, there was also a debate about whether rented and owned spaces are a useful anti-capitalist tactic, or not. [5] One view asserted that buying a social centre meant activists got bogged down by mundane activities such as business plans and mortgage applications. [6] The counter-view stated the advantages to owning a place were longevity and stability. [7]

Activities

The Cowley Club, Brighton Cowley Club.jpg
The Cowley Club, Brighton

What links these social centre projects together is the anarchist principle of self-management, which means they are self-organised and self-funding. They are anti-authoritarian and aim to show an alternative to capitalist modes of behaviour. [8] However, there is no single type of social centre. The aims and policies of individual projects are determined by those running them and shaped by local contexts. [8] This means that whilst every place is unique, functions will include some of the following: bar, bicycle repair workshop, café, concert venue, exhibition space, free shop, infoshop, language classes, meeting space, migrant support, radical library. [9]

The centres are connected in multiple ways. Sociologist Anita Lacey writes that "Actions, plans, ideas, and contacts are circulated via zines, at infoshops and stalls, and in social centres. Networks of activism develop and do not spontaneously emerge on the day of any given action; they emerge from the interaction of activists, in shared physical and/or emotional spaces." [8] Further, as well as being linked together, the centres provide concrete physical spaces for activists to meet and organise events and campaigns. Geographers Paul Chatterton and Stuart Hodkinson view social centres as part of the "broader 'autonomous movement,'" playing an "important role in the re-thinking and re-making 'citizenship' by bringing people together in spaces whose very reason for existence is to question and confront the rampant individualism of everyday life." [10]

Some social centres are co-operatively owned, such as the 1 in 12 Club, Sumac Centre in Nottingham and the Cowley Club in Brighton. The latter two are members of Radical Routes. [3] An advantage of ownership is that those projects have a longer lifetime than squatted or rented projects. [7]

Around the UK

The Initiative Factory (CASA), Liverpool The Casa.jpg
The Initiative Factory (CASA), Liverpool

In Belfast, the Warzone Collective formed in 1984, running an anarchopunk social centre between 1986 and 2003, and again between 2011 and 2018. The centre began with a café, a screen printing room and rehearsal spaces for bands. In the 2010s, it hosted gigs and still had a vegan café. [11]

In Birmingham there was the squatted Aardvark Centre in the 1990s. [12] Bradford has the long-running 1 in 12 Club. Over several floors it has a bar, café, library, recording studio and venue. In Brighton, the Cowley Club was founded in 2002 and has a bar, bookshop, café, infoshop, library, meeting space and music venue. Above it there is a housing co-operative. [3] There have also been many squatted projects in Brighton such as Medina House and the Sabotaj squat, which was a protest against supermarket expansion. [13]

BASE (Base for Anarchy & Solidarity in Easton), formerly Kebele, was squatted Easton, Bristol in 1995, initially as housing for homeless people before it became a social centre. A housing co-operative was formed to run the building and the mortgage was paid off in 2005. In 2008, a community co-operative took over the building and the name was changed. The centre contains a radical library, art room, apothecary and bike space. [14] [15]

The Red and Black Umbrella collective occupied the Tredegar Hotel pub in Cardiff in 2011. [16] The building had stood empty since 2006, when it had its licence revoked and was shut down by the council. [17] The social centre existed until 2015. In 2019, a community arts space called Gentileza was founded on Duke Street. [18]

The George's X Chalkboard project ran in Glasgow from September 2005 to September 2006 [19] and since 2016, there is the Glasgow Autonomous Space. [20] Also in Scotland, the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh (ACE) was founded in 1997 and the Forest Café was set up in 2000. In 2000, ACE provided meeting space for these groups: Autonomous Women of Edinburgh, Angry Youth, Edinburgh Animal Rights, Youth Solidarity Group, the Mutiny Collective and Prisoners’ Support, May Day Edinburgh, activists opposing the Terrorism Act 2000. [8]

The still extant Initiative Factory (also known as CASA) was set up in Liverpool following the dockers' strike in order to provide free community services. It was estimated in 2015 that the group had supplied advice to the value of £15 million. [21] A spokesperson said in 2008 "the guiding principles are that we’ve never shirked the fact that we’re a socialist organisation, our principles are founded out of the struggle of workers. So that will never change. It’s to help people in poverty, promote education for workers and for people in need." [22] Liverpool also has the News from Nowhere, a radical and community bookshop, with the Next to Nowhere social centre in a basement underneath it. [23]

The Partisan collective acquired a building on Cheetham Hill Road in Manchester as a social space and concert venue in 2017. [24] Partisan follows in the tradition of the Basement (2005–2008) and Subrosa (2013–15). [25] [26]

The Star and Shadow community cinema began in Stepney Bank in Newcastle in 2006 and since 2018 is based on Warwick Street. [23] [27] It is run by volunteers and screens a variety of films. It aims to support self-organised activities and there is a vegetarian café every Sunday. [28] The Sumac Centre building was bought in June 2001 in Forest Fields, Nottingham. Formed out of a previous project called the Rainbow Centre, the Sumac provides a meeting space for groups and a base for Veggies catering, which is run as a non-profit workers co-operative. [3]

London

The Camberwell centre, London, evicted 2007 Camberwell squatted centre board outside large.jpg
The Camberwell centre, London, evicted 2007

The Wapping Autonomy Centre was an early social centre experiment. It was located in a warehouse which was rented between 1981 and 1983 by anarchist punks. Bands such as Crass, Zounds and Flux of Pink Indians played there. [29] Examples of long-term squatted and now evicted projects include the 491 Gallery, RampART and the Spike Surplus Scheme. The 121 Centre was first squatted by Olive Morris and existed as a social centre for 18 years in Brixton, before being evicted in 1999. There was a bookshop, café, gig and rehearsal space, printing facility, office and meeting space. It also provided space for groups such as the radical women's magazine Bad Attitude, AnarQuist (the anarcho-queer group), Brixton Squatters' Aid and the prisoner support group Anarchist Black Cross. [30] The Rainbow Centre was a squatted church in Kentish Town and there was also the Hackney Squatters Centre. [12] The still extant infoshop at 56A Crampton Street in Elephant & Castle began in 1991, inspired by both European infoshops and local squatting movement in Southwark. [31]

There are also many examples of squatted projects which did not last very long, since the owner quickly regained possession, for example the Bloomsbury social centre and the Bank of Ideas, which was connected to Occupy London. In the 2000s, there was a series of projects squatted by people connected to Reclaim the Streets and the WOMBLES, such as the Radical Dairy, Grand Banks and Institute for Autonomy. [10] [32] The Really Free School occupied four buildings in central London in 2011, including a Fitzrovia mansion owned by Guy Ritchie. They put on free workshops and lectures. [33]

Since both buying a property and squatting a place have become more difficult in the 2010s, as a result of gentrification and the criminalisation of squatting in residential buildings under the 2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, some projects have decided to rent a space, for example DIY Space For London. A spokesperson said “We need a friendly landlord and about 2,000 ground-floor square feet, near to accessible transport, which is a tall order given the crazy cost of renting in London.” [34] Currently in 2019, alongside the 56A Infoshop and the London Action Resource Centre, active London projects include the Common Place in Bethnal Green, DeCentre at Freedom in Whitechapel and the Mayday Rooms on Fleet Street. [23]

Occasional centres

There are also groups which choose to do short-term squatted events lasting a fixed time so as to mitigate the difficulties of long term occupation. Such groups may exist for years and do a series of events, for example: A-Spire (Leeds), [3] Temporary Autonomous Arts (London, Sheffield, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh, Cardiff), [35] Anarchist Teapot (Brighton) [5] or the OKasional Café (Manchester). [36] The Okasional café did a number of events in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reforming for two weeks in 2010. [37] Focus E15 occupied flats on the Carpenters Estate in east London for several weeks in 2014 and used one flat as a social centre. [38]

List of current projects

This sortable list of notable current social centres in the United Kingdom was last updated in November 2023.

NameLocationEstablishedReference
1 in 12 Club Bradford1988 [12]
56a Infoshop London1991 [23]
Aberdeen Social CentreAberdeen2019 [20]
Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh Edinburgh1997 [8]
BASE Bristol1995 (squatted), 2006 (owned) [15]
Blackcurrent CentreNorthampton1989 [23]
Casa Liverpool2000 [39]
Cowley Club Brighton2002 [40]
DeCentre at Freedom Press London2016 [23]
Feminist Library London1975 [41]
FieldLondon2010s [20]
Focus E15 Sylvia's CornerLondon2010s [20]
Glasgow Autonomous SpaceGlasgow2016 [20]
GroundHull2010s [20]
London Action Resource Centre London1999 bought, 2002 opened [42]
Next to NowhereLiverpool2010s [23] [20]
Oxford Action Resource CentreOxford2005 [23] [20]
PartisanManchester2017 [43]
Star and ShadowNewcastle upon Tyne2006, new location 2018 [23]
Sumac Centre NottinghamCurrent building since 2001 [44]
Warehouse CaféBirmingham2010s [23] [20]
Wharf ChambersLeeds2010 [23] [20]

List of former projects

This sortable list of notable former social centres in the United Kingdom was last updated in November 2023.


NameLocationEstablishedReference
121 Centre London1989–1999 [45]
491 Gallery London2001–2013 [46]
Aardvark CentreBirmingham1990s [12]
Bank of Ideas London2011–2012 [47]
BasementManchester2005– [26]
BIT London1968 – 1970s [48]
Bloomsbury Social Centre London2011–2011 [49]
Button FactoryLondon ?–2001 [50]
Centro Iberico London1982–? [51]
Common HouseLondon2013-2021 [23] [52]
DIY Space For London London2015–2020 [53] [54]
Ex-Grand BanksLondon2004–2004 [55]
Focus E15 Open HouseLondon2014–2014 [38]
GentilezaCardiff2019–2021 [18] [56]
George's X ChalkboardGlasgow1990s [12]
HeartcureSheffield2018–2019 [57]
HiveLondon2015–2017 [58]
London Queer Social Centre London2012–2014 (four locations) [59]
Medina House Brighton2001–2006, 2007–2007 [60]
Radical DairyLondon2001–2003 [51]
rampART London2004-2009 [61]
Red and Black UmbrellaCardiff2011–2015 [16]
Really Free School London2011–2011 [62]
SabotajBrighton2011–2011 [13]
Spike Surplus Scheme London1999–2009 [46]
SquareLondon2000s [51]
SubrosaManchester2013 [26]
Wapping Autonomy Centre London1981–1982 [63]
Warzone Centre Belfast1986–2003, 2011–2018 [64]

Networks

DIY Space for London DIY Space for London.png
DIY Space for London

London Social Centres Network

The London social centres network existed in the 2000s with a discussion list and newsletter. [7] This then continued until 2011 with the Autonomous London blog. [65]

Social Centre Network UK/WISE

There was a gathering of social centres at the 1 in 12 Club in January 2007. [32] After several years of inactivity, the Sumac Centre in Nottingham hosted a relaunch of the UK Social Centre Network in November 2014. [66] The network met again in April 2015 at the Next to Nowhere social centre in Liverpool and became known as the "Social Centre Network of UK and Ireland." Another gathering of the Social Centre Network was held in September 2018 at GAS in Glasgow. [67] The network is now known as the Social Centre Network of Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting</span> Unauthorized occupation of property

Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. A variation is Street Squatting which is the action of occupying public areas without lawful permission, such as outdoor parks or streets. It has a long history, broken down by country below.

The London Action Resource Centre (LARC) is an anarchist infoshop and self-managed social centre situated in Whitechapel, in the East End of London. Previously a school and a synagogue, it was purchased in 1999. It hosts meetings and events from various groups and is part of the UK Social Centre Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infoshop</span> Space that serves as a node for the distribution of political, subcultural and radical information

Infoshops are places in which people can access anarchist or autonomist ideas. They are often stand-alone projects, or can form part of a larger radical bookshop, archive, self-managed social centre or community centre. Typically, infoshops offer flyers, posters, zines, pamphlets and books for sale or donation. Other items such as badges, locally produced artworks and T-shirts are also often available. Infoshops can also provide printing and copying facilities for people to produce their own literature or have a meeting space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UFFA</span> Anarchist youth house in Trondheim, Norway

UFFA is an anarchist youth house in Trondheim, Norway. The self-managed social centre provides a location for concerts and self-organised activities such as an infoshop at the Ivar Matlaus Bokkafé, a hacklab and an anarchist newspaper. Squatted in 1981, it moved to its present location the following year. The centre was burnt down in 2010 and then rebuilt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowley Club</span> Self-managed social centre in Brighton, England

The Cowley Club is a libertarian self-managed social centre in Brighton, England. It opened in 2003, providing resources and meeting spaces for groups and individuals active in areas such as workplace and unemployed struggles, international solidarity, animal liberation, ecological defence, feminist and queer activism and opposing the arms trade. Its political identity is close to anarchism or libertarian socialism. It also houses a vegan community café, a bookshop, and free English lessons for migrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blitz House</span> Norwegian self-managed social centre

Blitz House is an anarchist, communist and socialist self-managed social centre in Oslo, Norway, founded in 1982. Having started as a squat, it is now legalized and based on Pilestredet. The centre hosts activities such as political meetings, a feminist radio station (radiOrakel), a vegan café and practice rooms for musicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seomra Spraoi</span> Former self-managed social centre in Dublin

Seomra Spraoi was a self-managed social centre in Dublin, Ireland which first opened in 2004 and closed in 2015. It was run on a not-for-profit basis by an anti-capitalist collective with anarchist principles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-managed social centres in Italy</span> Self-organised autonomous projects in Italy

Self-managed social centres in Italy exist in many cities. They are part of different left-wing political networks including anarchist, communist, socialist, and autonomist. The centres tend to be squatted and provide self-organised, self-financing spaces for alternative and noncommercial activities such as concerts, exhibitions, farmers' markets, infoshops, and migrant initiatives. Over time, some but not all projects have opted to legalize their status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in England and Wales</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in England and Wales

In England and Wales, squatting—taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own—occurs for a variety of reasons which include needing a home, protest, poverty, and recreation. Many squats are residential; some are also opened as social centres. Land may be occupied by New Age travellers or treesitters.

The Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, also known as ACE, is an infoshop and autonomous social centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1997, although it follows on from previous groups.

Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchism, can include bicycle workshops, infoshops, libraries, free schools, meeting spaces, free stores and concert venues. They often become political actors in their own right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">121 Centre</span> Evicted social centre in London

121 Centre was a squatted self-managed social centre on Railton Road in Brixton, south London from 1981 until 1999. As an anarchist social centre, the venue hosted a bookshop, cafe, infoshop, library, meeting space, office space, printing facility, and rehearsal space. Organisations using the space included Food Not Bombs, Anarchist Black Cross prisoner aid chapters, an anarcho-feminist magazine, a squatters aid organisation, and an anarchist queer group. Regular events at 121 Centre included punk concerts, a women's cafe night, and a monthly queer night. The centre kept a low profile and was one of the longest-lasting squats in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Czech Republic</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Czech Republic

Squatting became a political phenomenon in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Squats in Prague included Sochora, Stary Střešovice and Ladronka. Milada was occupied in 1998 and following its final eviction in 2009, there was a lull in squatting actions. In the 2010s a new social movement squatted houses to highlight the number of derelict properties in Prague and the social centre Klinika was founded in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Spain</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in Spain

Squatting in Spain refers to the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. In Francoist Spain migrant workers lived in slums on the periphery of cities. During the Spanish transition to democracy, residential squatting occurred in Spanish cities such as Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza. From the 1980s onwards a new generation of squatters set up self-managed social centres which hosted events and campaigns. The 1995 Criminal Code among other things criminalised squatting, but failed to stop it. Social centres exist across the country and in Barcelona and Madrid in particular. In the Basque Country they are known as gaztetxes.

Base for Anarchy & Solidarity in Easton, commonly known as BASE, is an anarchist community co-operative and self-managed social centre in Easton, Bristol, England. Formerly known as Kebele, the building was squatted in 1995.

Okupa Che is an anarchist self-managed social centre in Mexico City, Mexico. An auditorium and associated rooms were squatted during the 1999–2000 UNAM strike on 4 September 2000 at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">56a Infoshop</span>

56a Infoshop is a self-managed social centre, archive, and shop based in Elephant and Castle, Southwark, London. Its collection centres around left and far-left materials including information on anarchism, anti-gentrification, to squatting.

The modern political squatting movement began in Hamburg, Germany, when Neue Große Bergstraße 226 was occupied in 1970. Squatters wanted to provide housing for themselves amongst other demands such as preventing buildings from being demolished and finding space for cultural activities. The Hafenstraße buildings were first occupied in 1981 and were finally legalized after a long political struggle in 1995. The still extant Rote Flora self-managed social centre was occupied in 1989. Squatting actions continue into the present; more recent attempts are quickly evicted, although the Gängeviertel buildings were squatted and legalized in the 2010s.

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Further reading