THE venue for 40 years of parties, weddings, meetings and community events began to be reduced to a pile of rubble today as bulldozers moved in to an Oxford community centre.

After more than a year standing vacant, demolition work started on Cowley Community Centre, in Barns Road.

It was condemned by Oxford City Council fire safety officers last year and the groups based there, including the OX4 Radio Station and mental health project Acorn, were relocated.

Beth Brown-Reid, who worked there for Acorn for eight years, said: “I feel it is a shame to see it being demolished because it was a hub that the community could actually go to and it made the community more vibrant.

“I would like to see the site come back into community use because there isn’t anywhere else like that.”

The centre opened in 1962 and demolition and clearance is expected to take 12 weeks.

Last year, consultation was launched on what to do with the site once the building was demolished, with options including housing, a retail complex and a whole new community centre.

Council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “We will be taking forward a report to the city executive board later this year which will present a number of options for the future of the Cowley Community Centre site.”