NxtGen Boxing to breathe new life into refurbished Marlborough Centre

The Marlborough Centre on Marlborough Street, Glodwick, reopened on Monday after Oldham Council paid for a full refurbishment to rescue it from dereliction. NxtGen Boxing, a club started by Oldbornians Asam Fiaz and Ryan Lawson, won the bid to run the building and will use it as both a boxing gym and a wider community space.

The centre had been shut for safety reasons after years of neglect. Without the council stepping in, officials say the brick building would have stayed boarded up. Instead, crews replaced wiring, roofing and interiors so the former Pakistani Community Centre could take in its first users since 2022.

NxtGen had been operating from a single room at the Honeywell Centre but ballooning membership meant classes were spilling into corridors. The new hall gives them a full-size ring, separate girls-only sessions and space for homework clubs. A nursery and long-standing community groups already on site will stay, so neighbours can still hire rooms for meetings or celebrations.

Fiaz says the club has already steered dozens of teenagers away from street corners and into weekly training. Council leader Arooj Shah, who cut the reopening ribbon, argues handing the keys to a grassroots outfit shows how the town hall can keep public buildings busy without running them directly.