A community centre is shutting after nearly four years.

Swale Media Arts Centre in Sittingbourne High Street will close on Friday, April 4.

It offers arts and crafts workshops, room hire, a community gallery to hire, as well as community events, activities, and family workshops.

Ken Rowles, who set up the centre in 2021, says it’s “annoying” that it will be shutting.

He said: “The gallery has made a great impact on the town.

“We were told by the landlord that they couldn’t guarantee another five-year extension on our lease which, because we’re a charity, we would need for further funding.”

Cllr Paul Stephen, chairman of the board of trustees, added that the decision to shut the centre was “due to a lack of funding and a limited lease”.

He explained: “It’s very disappointing that we’ve had to fold. We rely on grants and funding and that is dependent on the length of our lease.

“We were put in a situation where we had some arrears to pay, which we did, but that put us in a bit of a bad financial situation which relied on us getting more funding and more bookings, neither of which were available, unfortunately.”

He said that while their five-year lease ends at the start of next year, they simply cannot afford to keep it going until then.

He said: “The bookings had dropped quite substantially as a lot of it was from artists renting the gallery.

“We had a good couple of years of that happening but it got to the stage where we’d open up but get very little footfall.

“We tried lots of different things to try and entice people in but it came to a stage where we would not be able to meet the rest of our lease agreement over the next year.

“It is sad and a shame because we’ve got quite a few followers and groups.

“The centre added a lot to the High Street and it was somewhere anyone could pop into and use the facilities.

“But times are hard, we can't afford to run it anymore.”

He said the charity was looking at other options, including renting another premises for some of its groups to attend occasionally.

A spokesperson for the centre said: “We do hope to be able to continue some of our community-based work at other venues in the town so please keep an eye on our social media.

“We want to thank all those who have given their support to the centre during that time.

“We have enjoyed working with some wonderful groups and individuals and sharing activities and events with other organisations across Swale.

“A special thank you goes to all our dedicated volunteers who have been a joy to work with, many of whom we hope will still be working with us in the future. And, of course, to local people for their support.”

Several events will still be taking place over the next month.

The spokesperson added: “We will be selling many of the items from the centre as we will have to clear the building [by the start of April].

“If any organisation, or residents, would be interested in purchasing items please get in touch or keep an eye on this site for adverts.”

Several people expressed their sadness following the announcement, with one saying: “This is such disappointing news and the community is losing a valuable asset.”

Another added: “That’s an absolute travesty. It brought so much to the community.”