A gym coach at a youth centre at risk of eviction says the potential closure came as a “big shock”.

The Harringay Club in Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, has been run by the YMCA since 2020.

The centre, which runs activities including gymnastics and ballet programmes, supports thousands of children and young people every week.

Earlier this month, youth club staff said they were “shocked” to open a letter addressed to ‘YMCA’ and read that the council had served the charity 60 days’ notice to leave the building.

This means its services at the centre would have to stop by July 31.

The charity has been in discussions with Haringey Council over its lease since it moved in, but the council insists it has no plans to evict any groups and that activities will continue.

Mia Coffman, a student who helps run summer gym camps for children aged between five and 12, said the potential closure put some activities in limbo.

She said: “It has come as a big shock to us. 

“I was planning on doing six weeks of work over the summer.

“But as it stands now, we have to leave the premises by July 31, which is then just after the summer gym camp programme starts.

“It’s the only job that I have back in London, so I have no other source of income if it does close down.”

The 21-year-old added that she first went to the club when she was three, and was there “most days” as a young teenager.

She explained: “It’s almost like a second home to me.

“When I was a kid, going and doing gymnastics was a nice release from school.

“We get a lot of kids coming for gym camp who have never done gymnastics before.

"It’s also a childcare facility as well. The closure would likely leave a lot of people with no childcare in the immediate area.”

Mia added that she thought it was unlikely the gym camp could be recreated elsewhere.

She said: “It’s difficult because we are a purpose-built facility – we have a sprung-floor.

“If the site shut down, there would be a possibility to look at relocating to a local school, but I do think we would lose members due to the fact that we would not have those same facilities.

“It would be a massive loss.”