The Return of the Youth Club

More than a thousand youth clubs have closed their doors since 2010. Local government spending on youth services was slashed by around three-quarters during the age of austerity leaving a generation of young people without places to play. The former youth worker turned journalist Neil Maggs considers the impact of these cuts and examines new government plans to spend £500m to revitalise the youth sector.

Neil hears from young people at the youth club where he started his career in Barton Hill in Bristol. Emma Warren who has written a social history of youth clubs in Britain in her book "Up The Youth Club" talks about their role as engines of creativity. Youth clubs gave rise to Two Tone music in Coventry as well as Banksy and the graffiti scene in Bristol She reveals that the origins of youth clubs began with the charitable activities of private schools and discusses how a Conservative government in the 1960s gave youth clubs a major boost after the intervention of the aristocrat and social reformer Lady Albermarle. Dr Tania de St Croix from King's College London and Dr Carmen Villa from the Institute for Fiscal Studies give context on the effects of closing youth clubs.

In Manchester, Neil looks at the hub-and-spoke model the government is piloting as the future of youth clubs. Smaller clubs form spokes that feed into integrated youth hubs where broader services are offered. He tours a new youth club in the Crumpsall area as well as a revitalised hub in Moss Side and asks whether youth clubs are back for good.

Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(60)

AI on the Farm

Artificial intelligence is beginning to transform many aspects of our lives - but what's its potential for farmers? Producers are facing more challenges than ever, from drought and heat waves to labou...

11 Okt 28min

America’s Gerrymandering Arms Race

What if you could map the outcome of an election before a single vote was cast? This is the story of the drawing - and redrawing - of electoral battle lines in an unprecedented gerrymandering war t...

5 Okt 28min

Taiwan: The Pacific Breaking Point

James Crabtree has spent nearly 15 years tracking politics in Asia as an author, journalist and analyst. In that time, one small island - separated from mainland China by a hundred miles of water - ha...

20 Sep 28min

The Dictators' Survival Guide

Xi Jinping is known to be a ruthless leader. In the last five years alone, China’s richest man, Jack Ma, China’s defence minister and the country’s foreign minister have all abruptly disappeared - som...

30 Aug 28min

The WhatsApp Underground

In June 2026, racist violence erupted across Northern Ireland. Masked groups circulated lists of homes where people of colour were believed to be living, forcing more than a hundred people to flee.As ...

23 Aug 28min

Pride Before the Fall

Across the country love for Pride events is waning. Councils are pulling funding saying that cash is better spent on potholes and emptying the bins and big companies, once eager to be associated with...

16 Aug 27min

Decency Politics

As a journalist, historian, constitutional scholar and member of the House of Lords, Peter Hennessy has been observing British public and political life for more than 50 years. But now he's retiring f...

13 Jul 28min