The Hunslet Club: Leeds youth centre for thousands of children welcomes social media ban

The Hunslet Club in Leeds is giving youngsters a place to be free from social media, as well as enjoying a ‘nostalgic’ childhood. John Blow visited the club to find out more.

You might hear, while commuting along the headache-inducing lanes of the M621 in south Leeds, the faint sound of proper childhoods happening in real time.

For the Hunslet Club is only a few streets from the motorway, but feels to its thousands of members like a haven from the anxieties of their hyper-connected young lives.

“There are a lot of beautiful stories,” says Zoe Creasser, who is nominally the club’s marketing manager but, as is standard among her colleagues, goes beyond the job description to coach netball, run craft sessions and get stuck into youth work.

But she is worried that society at large doesn’t care enough about young people, treating their needs and interests as an afterthought. For instance, the club building itself is a rare example, and potentially the only, place actually purpose-built as a youth centre in Leeds, one of the largest cities in the UK.

Back when it began in 1940, “we had a lot of boys on the streets with nothing to do, so it started up as a little boy’s club, and it was run out of an old church hall.

"Fast forward to the 70s, they dotted around church halls. Whenever that one got scabby, they got moved around by the local council, and we find that is a trend throughout the country, even now – buildings that are no longer fit for purpose for adults, they get given to the youth.”

Dr John Wyllie, a local GP, founded the Hunslet Club after recognising the need to support young people during the Second World War. At the beginning, it was literally a boy’s club, but has since expanded to welcome all and now has more than 4,000 members - amounting to 84,000 annual visits - who turn up for football, boxing, gymnastics, rugby, dance and lots more activities.

Most of these are just £1.50 a go, or free, and it has been that way for more than 20 years. Yet the club is mostly self-funding through social enterprises and donations, including a £1.4 million from the Football Foundation last year.

It is now also an alternative education provider - for children aged 14-16 who are referred after struggling to learn in mainstream settings - offering vocational courses in sports, engineering, hair, beauty, and catering to 120 students weekly from various Leeds schools. That, in turn, helps to fund its evening youth sessions.

The building is five decades old and after Dennis Robbins – who had attended the club as a boy and later volunteered as a boxing coach – became CEO in 2004, he adopted a more business-minded approach to keep it open.

Speaking from the club’s art room, where every spare shelf is filled with a something crafted by a youngster, Zoe says: “Our mission is to help all kids reach their full potential, no matter the personal circumstance, and we believe the proof is there - that if kids are engaged after school in extracurricular sports activities, recreation, arts projects, if they're out socialising, it builds confidence. Basically, all the qualities that you need to succeed in life, you will get through staying active and engaged outside of school. We're one of the most deprived areas in the country, not just in Leeds. We're very diverse, there’s a lot of immigration in Hunslet.

“Basically, it's a necessity and we're just seeing record numbers of kids come through the doors – and again, we celebrate that, but (it’s because) there's a need for it. It's because youth clubs are closing all over. It's because now a lot of activity sessions are unaffordable, inaccessible (because) we're in a cost of living crisis.”

She highlights a report by Leeds Beckett University’s Centre for Health Promotion Research, which calculated the club’s social return on investment (SROI), allocating a financial value to a range of outcomes such as increased confidence. They found that the club’s voluntary activities programmes delivered between £66 and £174 (a median average of £120) of social value for every £1 invested.

But the youngsters themselves can put it in simpler terms. Anisa, a teenager living in long-term foster care, took part in yoga classes at the club. “I find yoga really helps to clear my mind, I could have had a real bad, rubbish day and feel extremely stressed but after the class my mind and body feels relaxed, and I feel like I can focus on positive thoughts. I can use the techniques I am learning outside of the class and use these at home or even the breathing exercises in school or when I’m doubting myself.”

It is partly about getting children off their phones. When the social media ban for under-16s was announced recently, those who run the club were thrilled.

Bullying and grooming are significant online hazards and, Zoe says, “the amount of interventions we have to do due to social media, it’s harrowing”.

When the ban was announced, director of operations and youth services Jennie Baldwin-Baker said: “We see this as a chance to remind young people of everything that can happen when they step outside, join a team, try a new activity, or simply spend time with friends. Some of life's best memories are made through shared experiences, laughter, teamwork, and adventure, and we're committed to creating more opportunities for young people to enjoy those moments."

Or, as Zoe put it, they “believe this is an opportunity to re-emphasise the value of what many would describe as a more nostalgic childhood experience”.

Today, she is speaking in the art room, where every spare shelf is filled with something – a drawing, sculpture or card.

“We have people travel from 23 wards in Leeds,” she says. “We've got people who come from Doncaster, York. We've got people come from north Leeds because there's nothing affordable for their kids to do there.”

And there are no subscriptions to take part, which is rarer nowadays.

The club is backed by prominent sports figures such as former rugby player Jason Robinson, who grew up in foster care in Leeds and serves as an ambassador.

Meanwhile, scouts from Premier League football clubs have been known to visit while youngsters play at the site’s facilities.

So, the team at Hunslet will be hoping new Prime Minister Andy Burnham will throw his support behind his predecessor’s plan for the social media ban, which is due to take effect in January.

"It means maybe more people will come down and see us,” says Zoe, “and more kids will be part of something bigger.”