Pudsey Civic Hall: Leeds pensioners say council’s closure plans and loss of dance hall would be 'devastating'

Martin and his wife Katherine make the 50-mile round trip to Leeds from Kirklees every week to take part in the dance sessions, which are “vital” for keeping Martin’s Parkinson’s disease from developing further.

"It gives me a focus and a way to keep challenging myself”, he said. “I’ve got to keep going and this keeps me going. Otherwise I would just deteriorate.”

The couple were two of many people to share their devastation and concern with the YEP at the prospect of dance classes and social events no longer being available if plans by Leeds City Council to close the community asset go ahead.

The council has listed Pudsey Civic Hall – opened in 1972 and situated on Dawson’s Corner – for potential closure as it deals with significant financial issues and tries to avoid bankruptcy.

The hall hosts concerts, food fairs and blood donor sessions but is most utilised by residents for the regular dance classes and sessions that are hosted and enjoyed by dozens of elderly residents who thrive off of the physical, social and mental benefits that it provides them.

Upon visiting the social event on Monday night, the YEP was inundated with views from the movers and shakers who approached us in between dances, each one describing the plans as “terrible”, “devastating” and a “disaster” at various intervals.

Tears were shed as couples spoke of their need for the events to remain available; saying that it is “part of their lives” and that those they have met have become “like family”.

They also spoke of the significant health benefits, highlighting how as well as Parkinson’s, dancing has been shown to vastly improve the chances of staving off other illnesses like dementia.

One of the dancers, Robert Savage, told the YEP: “There’s a few people here with dementia. They can’t remember what they did this morning but they can remember this. It brings back memories of what they were doing when they were younger.

The council has responded saying that the civic hall is run at a deficit and urged dancers to look elsewhere, but one of the points is that the size and quality of the dance floor at Pudsey makes it among the best there are.

After the announcement through the speakers that the YEP had attended to speak to couples in between jams that had couples dancing around the court, there was an endless queue of people wanting to share their stories.

The first to collar us was Dan Stewart, who teaches classes and said they had been as busy and popular now as at any time in the last 30 years.

He said: “This is in spite of the council not doing any advertising for the place. It’s all left down to me.

"We get people in Pudsey who don’t know what happens here. It’s crazy.”

Also keen to share her voice was Elaine Lascelles, who said losing the hall would be “huge, huge, huge”.

"It’s part of our lives and has been all of these years”, she said. “Dancing halls have been closing all over and there’s now very few places we can go. For a dancer it’s very important.”

That point was evidenced by the fact that some of those at the social event had travelled from the likes of Huddersfield, Hull and Knaresborough just for the chance to put their dancing shoes and glad rags on.

Barry Johnson, who had arrived from North Yorkshire, said: "We’ve got to travel some distance to find a floor as good as this. It’s a way of life for us though and we look forward to it.

"It’s just a great place and it’s so important to keep alert and socialise. We’d be devastated to lose it.”

The shared goal among those was to enjoy themselves and spend quality time with like minded folk. Sue Bickerton said: “I’ve been coming for a lot of years and met loads of new people I would never have met before. It’s opened so many doors.

"After a bad day it’s good to come here. It’s like medication.”

She continued: “I met my best friend here and it’s the highlight of the week for her. She lives on her own and coming here and seeing friends and socialising – it’s a big part of peoples’ lives.”

Janice Ellis was at a loose end after retirement and the dance classes helped reinvigorate her. She said: “My friend insisted I come along and afterwards when we got in the car she asked how it went and I said ‘I feel like I’ve been injected with life’.”

The suspicion from most is that the council intends on selling the building and land it is on – which also includes a 300-space car park – so that it can be demolished and turned into homes or flats.

Robert Savage said: “What’s the point in building houses if you’re not going to give the people somewhere to go?

"We’re paying in to our council tax as everyone else is and I think we deserve to have our social space where we enjoy dancing.

"You can’t go on losing communities.”

On the council’s plans he said: “I think they should rethink it in the strongest possible terms. We are in the the winter of our years and need these social spaces.

"We’ve paid in to the council all of our lives and it’s time we got something back from them.”

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “Given the scale of the financial challenges that we and every Council faces, we cannot afford to deliver the services that we have previously provided, especially when they run at a deficit, which is the case for Pudsey Civic Hall. At this stage we are consulting on the proposal to close the building and we have highlighted the potential to sell the site. Following the end of the consultation period we will look at the future options for the site prior to making any final decisions.

“Should the building close, there are a number of other council venues which could potentially host some of the current activities. These include Morley Town Hall, Calverley Mechanics Institute, and Horsforth Mechanics Institute.”

A consultation on the closure of Pudsey Civic Hall remains open until January 19.