The Largest Hackney Community Centre

The Wally Foster Community Centre is a large well established Community Centre in South East Hackney situated on Homerton Road and bordering Hackney Marsh. It is less than a mile from the Olympic Park and serves the local community of the Kings mead Estate and surrounding roads and is available for use by all Hackney Residents. It is now the largest Hackney Community Centre.

The Centre offers a large flexible hall and rooms ideal Space/s for Dance, Drama, Music, Photo, Video, Film, Education, Workshops, and community meetings. 2 medium sized meeting room for smaller groups and business meetings, Christchurch Chapel and 3 offices.

Serving the Hackney Community for 40 years

This year the Wally Foster Community Centre celebrates its 40th anniversary and during that time has provided a variety of services to the residents of the Kings mead Estate which it was built to serve.

Our History

The Wally Foster Centre was built by Hackney Council, in partnership with the Church of England in 1976 to serve the Kings mead Estate. This enabled the establishment of a permanent chapel within the Centre, which the Church of England holds on a 999 year lease at a peppercorn rent.

The Centre was set up to offer a venue that would advance education and leisure time pursuits and act as a hub from which voluntary organisations can operate and serve the Hackney Community.

The building has been managed since 1994 by the Wally Foster Community Centre Association Ltd (a limited company and a charity). Like many other Hackney Community Buildings the Centre had fallen into in a bad state of repair but this has largely been rectified over the past two years.

The Centre is in the process of being refurbished to provide light modern office and meeting space for the community to use.

The Association sole source of funding has been from hire and rental income and has a policy that market rates are charged to those who can afford them so that we are able to offer meeting and office space to community and charitable groups at low cost.