Highbury Centre to close London guest house

The Highbury Centre’s Aberdeen Park site is closing to guests.

For over 130 years, The Highbury Centre’s mission has been to provide guests with a “welcoming, comfortable, safe, peaceful, and affordable home to rest, meet, and fellowship.” Now, the final checkout for its London guest house and meeting rooms will be 30 October. The Highbury Centre as a Christian charity, however, is not closing.

The decision was made after two years of proactively reviewing all aspects of The Highbury Centre. “This has not been an easy road to walk, and the decision was made prayerfully by the trustees,” it writes. “It reflects a combination of the prohibitive cost of bringing our historic building up to modern standards, a decline in occupancy rates in recent years, rising running costs, the changing needs of those we serve, the current economic and social climate, the evolving face of global mission, and the broader challenges of providing affordable accommodation here in London. Taken together, the trustees do not believe continuing in our current form would be a good use of charitable resources.”