The Southwater Area Community Centre was set up in 2001 as part of the Southwater Renewal Area regeneration project, in order to create a Community Centre in the heart of St Leonards-on-Sea. The centre was officially opened in May 2002 by MP Michael Foster. Over the past 20 years The building has become a thriving and welcoming community centre, supporting the diverse local community. We have four affordable rental offices home to local enterprises and three event rooms available for hire. We host essential support groups, clubs, training, and everything in between.
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0Who we are
Our charity is the Southwater Area Community Centre (Charity Registration No: 1105027), and we have been serving local residents for 20 years. Our charity’s mandate is ‘to support and provide opportunities to improve the lives of local residents’.
This year we have signed a new 25-year lease on our building, so we have relaunched and re-branded as The Clifton centre, to reflect the building's previous history as a pub, The Clifton Tavern. We engaged local artists to produce new signage and a mural on the side of the building.
Our Location
We are located on the north side of St Leonard's Warrior Square Station, with plenty of parking, lots of buses and metres away from the thriving town centre with independent shops and cafes nearby.
About the Clifton Centre
The centre includes three rooms to hire by the hour, from as little as £6 per hour, a cafe style sitting room, a small meeting room and a larger hall. We also have four offices rented to creative businesses, a therapist, a disability equality consultancy and a local writer / performer.
Who uses The Clifton Centre?
As a charity, we are well connected to local service providers and projects who use our venue to serve up to 400 local people each week with a diverse range of support needs. This includes community groups and voluntary organisations, small businesses, the local Councils, and training providers.
Our 20th Anniversary
We celebrated our 20th anniversary on 20 May this year. As well as tenants and users of the centre, attendees at the gathering included MP Sally-Ann Hart, the High Sheriff of East Sussex, Jane King, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Sussex, Sarah Kowitz, and former MP Michael Foster, who officially opened the centre in 2002.
The guests were welcomed by Cllr Peter Pragnell, the chair of trustees, who recalled that the building started life as a pub, the Clifton Tavern, which closed in the 1990s - hence the new name.
In 2000 the building was acquired by the council for the Southwater Area renewal project using government regeneration funding. “A lot of work went into turning a derelict pub into a thriving community centre,” Cllr Pragnell said. “On 18 May 2002 MP Michael Foster officially opened the Southwater Area Community Centre.”
Ms Hart welcomed the community spirit at the heart of the centre’s achievements. “One of the things that is amazing about Hastings and St Leonards is the people in the community and their passion about where they live, and the success of a venture like this is because of the local people supporting it, the volunteers,” she said.
An art exhibition curated by Nick Hill, who recently stepped down as a trustee, and a display depicting the history of the Victorian building and centre were on view. Guests were treated to poetry readings by Francis Saunders and Penny Pepper, both tenants of the office space and users of the centre’s facilities, and musical entertainment from Yair Katz, who gives music therapy at the centre.
