TV historian David Olusoga has been left “absolutely heartbroken” by the closure of a North East leisure centre which was central to his childhood.

The A House Through Time host has added his voice to the campaign to save Gateshead Leisure Centre, which was controversially closed down under council budget cuts last Friday.

The Geordie-Nigerian broadcaster grew up on Gateshead’s St Cuthbert’s Village estate and credits the leisure centre with changing his life, but now fears that local youngsters will be deprived of the opportunities it gave him.

The Northern Echo: Gateshead Leisure Centre Gateshead Leisure Centre (Image: LDR)

Read more: Gateshead and Birtley leisure centres closed under council cuts

After his mum sent him a photo of the leisure centre in its boarded-up state earlier this week, David told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he was “absolutely heartbroken” by an act of “cultural and civic vandalism”.

The 53-year-old said: “I have so many memories of the leisure centre opening [following its 1970s rebuild] and it being something that transformed my life. I was not very good at sport up until then, but I did karate and judo at the leisure centre.

“I must have spent four nights a week there and I used to go on Saturday mornings as well. It was the first place I ever used the gym, it was the place where I did the martial arts that were the centre of my life. When I got into basketball it was the first place I watched it.”

His brother, Peter, is now a doctor specialising in sports psychology and David believes that their lives would have been “profoundly different” without the leisure facilities in Alexandra Road.

The Northern Echo: TV historian David OlusogaTV historian David Olusoga (Image: Contributor)

He added: “I am horrified by the idea that something that was available to me and was so transformative has been taken away from people in my hometown.”

Having been contacted by the Save Leisure Gateshead group, which has been fighting to keep the centre open, the historian has now joined the calls to protect the leisure centre for future generations.

There are hopes that it can be reopened this November, with the community-led Gateshead Active group putting together plans for an asset transfer that would see it take control of the site from Gateshead Council.

David said: “I would love to see the leisure centre reopen. It speaks to the resilience of the people of Gateshead that the campaign group has been created, but this should never have happened. This is going backwards, it is life in Gateshead being harder than it was when I was growing up. This is 40 years later and children should have more, not less.

“The health indices for Gateshead and most of the North East are so stark… Gateshead is the 47th poorest place in the country, it is the last place where people can afford to lose a facility that improves their health. It is cultural and civic vandalism.

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“I would not point fingers at local councils who are being asked to do what is literally impossible. This is what austerity is – it is not just a headline, it is the stripping away of money that actually makes our societies work.”

The council has blamed swingeing cuts to its budgets for the decision to close down both Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley’s swimming pool.

The authority says it has lost £179m from its annual spending power since 2010 and can no longer afford to run leisure services that are overspending their budgets.