Why Risk It All ?
We touched upon this last week in Why Donors To The “Biggest Mosque In Essex” May Now Be Feeling Cheated.
The purchase of Hamptons in 2020 was funded by some unbelievably generous donors from the Muslim community. To raise £2.35 million is an incredible feat in a period of economic downturn, but now that act of charity is at risk.
The Covid pandemic has had a profound effect on many businesses, pushing many well known brands into administration. So what chance does Hamptons really have ?
With government restrictions constantly changing, Hamptons has been pretty much shut down since March (apart from a brief window in September). We’ve seen an internal email from earlier in the year, in which one of the Hamptons directors stated “our main focus has been to cut costs as much as possible, this includes stopping payments to creditors and hoping they don’t chase us until later”. They go on to say “all the capital that we have invested into the centre has been gradually cut away”.
Now that the Chelmsford Muslim Society is listed as the sole shareholder and owner of Hamptons, if it goes into administration, creditors could potentially seek to recoup their losses by going after other assets that the charity owns…..including their mosque in Moulsham St.
We’ve always felt that the CMS are completely out of their depth at Hamptons. Taking over and running a sports and leisure club with little industry experience always seemed a reckless use of charity funds. Closing the bars (it’s largest revenue stream) will prove to be fatal for the business, and will cause the function side of the business to collapse. And finally, why make the most senior member of staff redundant ? Years of knowledge and experience of the business thrown away.
Despite claims on social media that many of the adult dance groups don’t “drink and dance”, we’ve spoken to many dancers who don’t agree. The social side of the groups is often more important than the dancing. You can’t even buy a cup of tea onsite these days, since the promised new cafe never materialised either.
We are hearing rumours of funds being moved from the charity’s accounts to shore up Hamptons failing business, and know for sure that one of the directors had to sink in more of his own money. This is clearly not sustainable.
As soon as the sale of Hamptons was completed, CMS revealed that they had an Islamic loan of £615,000 to repay over the next two years, with £280,000 due to be repaid immediately. A crowdfunding page (updated in March) asked for donations to carpet rooms, provide ritual ablution facilities and help clear the growing debts. It raised less than £100.
Why on earth would you focus on making costly building changes, when the business is circling the drain ?
We implore the Chelmsford Muslim Society to have a good hard think about the next three months. You have little income, spiralling debts and lack the expertise to climb out of the hole you’ve dug. What will happen when the furlough scheme ends in March ?
It’s possible that Chelmsford City Council could step in (if the price was right), since it needs to increase it’s provision of sports and leisure centres to cater for the many new developments around the district.
Take the money and cut your losses. Find a new site and build the Islamic Centre and Mosque that you really want. Or face this.
