For over forty years, the Marcus Garvey Centre in Lenton has served as an important cultural hub for the Black community, providing a space for live music, celebrations, educational training, business growth and day care for Black elders. With recent news that the centre is facing closure, LeftLion went down to find out what it means for the community and why it is being fought for.
What comes to mind when we think of the word community? It could be a geographical location, like a neighbourhood or city. Or perhaps a shared identity, interest, or goal. Or is it something deeper than semantics can point to? In our individualistic, commercially driven world, communities and the places they convene are undoubtedly something to hold on to; a place for connection and culture, where lives are entwined, help can be found, and history is preserved.
The Marcus Garvey Centre is a true example of this. Many will recognise the formidable brick building in Lenton, or will have heard about an event or other happening there. On my way to chat to its tenants, the taxi driver tells me he has a friend whose company is based at the Garvey. My mum went Ceroc dancing there in the 2000s and a chap I know from the local pub stores equipment for his PA business in the building. However, for over four decades, the beating heart of the centre has been Nottingham’s Black community. Generations of Afro-Caribbean families, friends and figures have used the centre as a place to meet and share their cultural heritage. Now, faced with the threat of closure, that community is wondering where its future will be found.
The centre began as the headquarters for the Raleigh Bicycle Company in 1931, designed by architect Thomas Cecil Howitt. Designated as a Grade II listed in 2018, the building features an expansive 600 capacity events hall and distinctive architectural details, including a frieze of cherubs assembling bicycles and an ‘R’ for Raleigh positioned at the peak of the stage.
Owing to the largely Black workforce at Raleigh, in 1981, the centre, which is based in the Howitt Building at the Lenton Business Centre (LBC), was repurposed and named the Marcus Garvey Centre, in honor of the renowned Black activist and journalist. Allocated as a space for the local Afro-Caribbean community, over the years it has provided all manner of community-based facilities, from recording studios, a creche, and a day care for the elderly, to a place for funerals, celebrations and concerts.
With the Marcus Garvey Centre, as much as it needs to survive as a business, there's that predisposition to culture and history. So that's the difference where it now really actually matters more than most
“It's not abnormal for you to meet an elderly person who would say ‘I met my husband or wife at the Marcus Garvey Centre’, because it was a place to go every Saturday or Sunday,” explains Tyron Browne, Secretary at the centre. “In terms of the ballroom, they've had some glorious functions upstairs - there’s been so many big artists who've played here. When Maxi Priest performed you couldn't get from the stage to the bar. Then there was Yellowman, who again packed the place to the rafters.”
Along with Tyron, I am meeting Daycare Manager Roy Browne, Designated Premises Supervisor Ehimare Djobo, and Music Promoter Valerie “Lady V Rocket” Robinson. Together, they are heading up the fight to keep the centre open and maintain that there is much more to it than the crucial services it provides.
“With the Marcus Garvey Centre, as much as it needs to survive as a business, there's that predisposition to culture and history,” explains Ehimare. “So that's the difference where it now really actually matters more than most.”
In December 2024, Nottingham City Council ordered the centre to close, citing fire risks in the building, leading to many regular events having to be cancelled. At the end of January businesses in the centre were given a 28 day notice to vacate. Despite the City Council stating they were working with tenants to minimise disruption to businesses, no in-person meetings have been offered by the Council, and there is understandably much ill-feeling towards how the situation has been handled.
“There’s a decent and professional way in which to deal with these things,” says Tyron. “You can’t just send an email saying, ‘Don’t operate’. There’s an element of heavy-handedness about it, and there’s a better way to treat a community.”
Previously, the community has taken it upon themselves to fix issues in the building. When houses were built across the road in 2021, the community raised money to soundproof the ballroom, and more recently offered to fix fire risk issues themselves.
The group believes that the City Council have purposely run the site down in order to sell it in the future: “For over a decade now some of the tenants have been complaining that the City Council have neglected to do any repairs on the building,” Valerie explains. “There’s not been clear transparency and honesty. We deserve better than that.”
The PATRA building, where we meet, stands for ‘Positive Action Training Recruitment Agency’. Once used as a place where young people could pick up National Vocation Qualifications (NVQs) and improve their professional skills, the service was again depleted due to lack of funding.
Valerie’s daughter started at PATRA before training as a social worker, and Ehimare also found the centre useful in his career development, evidencing the potential of the centre to continue to aid future generations in the community. Now overseeing licensing, bar operations, and compliance with regulations, he was introduced to the Garvey in 2014 while working as a radio DJ and student promoter. With many city centre venues catering to students, he credits the centre as a welcoming Black space that has supported him after graduating.
“When I became a non-student, and of course so did my peers, it became much more difficult to develop what I had been doing into the local community,” Ehimare said. “Having a disposition to a Black audience within the history of the Marcus Garvey Centre, it helped me to sustain the events that I developed as a student. That became a business, and essentially what I do today.”
Ehimare notes that his experience of the centre is somewhat different to that of the elder community. “I've missed the glory days of all the big bands in the 80s and 90s, but over the years it’s still maintained that core of being a space for the Black community, where you have an advantage that you don’t in the city centre.”
“It’s a historical, iconic venue,” says Valerie, who has organised dozens of musical events in the prestigious ballroom. “I’d say ninety per cent of the soundsystems in the UK and overseas have performed here, and we’ve had legendary artists like Marcia Griffiths, Sugar Minott, Nitty-Gritty and Shabba Ranks. Tippa Irie recorded one of his records back in the day when the studio was downstairs. There’s been so many events… on New Year’s Eve, the queue would be out the front door and down the boulevard.”
Along with cultural and music events, the centre has been home to a day care centre for 35 years, a place for Afro-Caribbean elders to access specialist services, enjoy social activities, and escape isolation. Beginning as a luncheon club, the idea for providing day care came about after an elderly man in the local community died alone in his home.
We will not stop until the Council sits and negotiates with us, until we get security on tenure, until it's quite clear that the legacy of this building is there for our children
“It made me think, crikey, there must be a lot of black elders who are isolated at home,” explains Tyron. “That was very successful. We were attracting forty to fifty people a day - people who couldn’t afford the cost of living, or didn’t have families. They could come here, have a good meal, talk about the Caribbean or their life in England.”
The club attracted the attention of the City Council who began providing funding for day care, but cuts have been made to the service over the years, due to financial pressures. “The remainder of the elders in the day centre have now been moved out into a different centre that doesn’t cater to their cultural needs,” explains Valerie. “We believe they deserve better, because of the deep-rooted contribution that our great Windrush generation have made to this country and to Nottingham.”
With a limited time given to vacate the building, the services, businesses and events previously held at the centre are still waiting for the City Council to provide answers and support.
“I’d say there’s around 400 people employed on this site, and some of the businesses will not be able to afford to move on quickly and find somewhere else, so some of them will be out of a job,” says Valerie. “But it’s not just about the building, the erosion of spaces like the Marcus Garvey Centre is taking away our identity.”
At the time of writing, the City Council has yet to respond to LeftLion’s request for comment. The tenants have created a Black Community Action Group and organised a change.org petition, which has so far received over 10,000 signatures of support. They are also seeking legal advice as to how to proceed.
“We hope the City Council have acted legally,” explains Tyron. “But we will not stop until the Council sits and negotiates with us, until we get security on tenure, until it's quite clear that the legacy of this building is there for our children.”
Sign the petition to save the Marcus Garvey Centre at change.org/p/save-the-marcus-garvey-centre-protect-nottingham-s-cultural-heart. An additional paper petition which can be signed in person at Sherwood Business Centre, the Lace Bar, A&W Caribbean & English Café & Restaurant, and other locations.
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