1981 saw riots in London, Liverpool and Leeds. ChangeĪs the 1970s ended something in London and in other cities was about to change. Cities were in decline. Central London Youth Hostel, Great Ormond Street. GOSH, as it became known, stayed open until 1952 when a new hostel at Earl’s Court, which remains open today, replaced it. It bought the building in 1944 and it continued as a youth hostel until until 1997.Ī bigger youth hostel, at 38 Great Ormond Street, opened in July 1936. YHA leased the brick-built townhouse from 1935. The association next opened a youth hostel at Highgate, on West Hill. In many ways, it was a super hostel in a special place. A large restaurant, on the ground floor, offered youth hostel members meals at special prices. From 1933, for two summers, the Welcome Club Rooms at the Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, were London’s next hostel. Teachers, welfare workers, scouts, all sorts of young folk from the benighted provinces, not to forget Continental youth – all want to see this wonderful London…”Ī year later Leonard had his wish. “London has the discredit of being the only capital in Europe that cannot welcome impecunious youth into its midst. He was an internationalist, keen to see people from different countries mixing together. In 1932 he declared there was a crying need for a youth hostel in London. He was one of the earliest to push for a youth hostel in London. In 1929 he had thrown his support behind youth hotels. He was another early supporter of youth hostels. He had inspired two previous organisations which provided accommodation in the countryside, the Co-operative Holidays Association and the Holiday Fellowship. The hunt for another site in London began, encouraged by TA Leonard. A settled network of hostels took a long time to appear. The first youth hostels came and went, sometimes with bewildering speed. Many other early youth hostels closed as quickly. Unfortunately, it closed soon after, having recorded only 33 overnight stays. The first hostel in London was for men only. A lack of suitable low cost accommodation denied many young people the chance to travel and Clayton, like many others, saw youth hostels as the way to change that. Toc H began in the first world war and became an international movement that aimed to promote reconciliation. Clayton was an early supporter of youth hostels. New Talbot House near the Tower of London was the vicarage of All Hallows by the Tower where Tubby Clayton, of Toc H, was vicar from 1922. Highgate youth hostel, an early youth hostel in London. YHA has had youth hostels in London for a long time and the first one there, one of the first in Britain, opened in May 1931. But for a youth hostel it really isn’t that different or that unusual. The new hostel will be big, it’ll be purpose built and it’ll be in London. It will be three times bigger than any other property in YHA’s network. The new hostel in east London will be in the Olympic Park next to Stratford Tube station and Westfield Shopping Centre, a short walk from Stratford International mainline station. The £30 million hostel will have en suite bedrooms, bars, restaurants, conference and meeting facilities, a self-catering kitchen and communal spaces. If planning permission is granted the new hostel will have 850 beds. YHA is planning a big new super youth hostel for London. Grab a coffee and allow about 15 minutes for reading this. We might love those kind of hostels but we should think again and here’s why. Not what many of us expect from a youth hostel? It’s easier to think that youth hostels are small, out of the way places in fantastic locations. It’ll be purpose built and it’ll be in London.
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