The former Beacon pub on Kings Road was handed to Westside Community Association on 27 October, after a £500,000 refit. It will be South Ham's community base.

South Ham’s community association has the keys to its new home. The former Beacon pub on Kings Road was handed over to Westside Community Association on Tuesday 27 October, after a refurbishment costing about £500,000.

The association lost its own centre on Paddock Road when unsafe concrete was found there. It has run its cafe, food pantry and other services from other venues ever since.

The handover is recorded in a briefing note for the borough council’s South Ham and Buckskin Regeneration Committee, which meets on 12 November. It says housing association Sovereign Network Group (SNG) agreed the sub-lease with the association and “handed over possession of the building on the 27th October 2026”. The association is now moving in.

What the Beacon will be

SNG, which leases the building from the council, finished the refit in September. Its release of 8 September set out the plan:

  • A flexible community space for activities, services and support, run by Westside Community Association.
  • A local base for SNG’s housing and repairs teams, so its tenants have somewhere nearby to go.
  • A possible new name, “The Westside Beacon”.

Nicky Blunden, the association’s centre manager, said then: “This gives us a blank canvas and an opportunity to create a community-focused space shaped by local people.”

Cllr John McKay, the council’s Cabinet member for communities, said: “The building will provide an important base for community activities and support in South Ham.”

The association’s own website now describes the Beacon as “soon to open”. Neither the association nor the council has yet published an opening date or a timetable of what will run there.

Why it took so long

Westside Community Centre and South Ham Library shared a building on Paddock Road. Both closed after reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) panels were found in it, the council’s community centres page says. The building was jointly owned by the borough and Hampshire County Council.

The borough council then bought its interest in the Beacon, which had been put up for sale. SNG announced the purchase in February 2025 and said it expected the building to reopen later that year. The council’s page still says “by the end of 2025”. In the event, the keys changed hands ten months after that.

In the meantime the association moved its work to three places:

  • The Kings Cafe and food pantry at 49 Kings Road, South Ham.
  • The Russell Howard Pavilion, home of Westside Pre-school.
  • The Ridgeway Centre in Blackdown Close, Buckskin.

An interim home

The council’s note is clear that the Beacon is a stopgap. It is meant to serve South Ham “on an interim basis pending the delivery of permanent new community facilities”. Those are planned as part of the wider regeneration of Buckskin and South Ham by the Sovereign Hill Partnership, an equal partnership between SNG and the housebuilder Hill Group.

The same note records the partnership’s planning application for the former Camrose football ground, for 99 homes. We reported on that application, and what it says about affordable housing, in September. The wider regeneration plan is in our story on the Cabinet decision.

What it means for you

  • The Kings Cafe and pantry carry on for now. The council’s page lists the cafe as open Tuesday to Friday, 9.30am to 2pm, and the pantry on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10am to 1pm.
  • Ask the association what is moving and when. It can be reached on 01256 470665 or at westsidecommunitycentre@hotmail.co.uk, the contact details the council lists.
  • The regeneration committee meets at 6.30pm on Thursday 12 November. The agenda and papers include a change to the housing allocations policy for residents affected by the regeneration.

We will add the opening date and the new timetable when the association publishes them.