West Suffolk Council is leasing the Brickfields Avenue centre to Newmarket Nexus, a community interest company two years old. What the register shows about it.

Studlands Park Community Centre in Newmarket has a new operator. West Suffolk Council, which owns the building, is leasing it to Newmarket Nexus, the community interest company that runs the donations superstore on the same estate (West Suffolk Council).

It replaces a tenant of very long standing. Ofsted’s register records Little Buds Pre-School at The Community Centre, Brickfields Avenue, Newmarket CB8 7RX, registered on 17 September 1990 and last inspected on 20 February 2023. The register now lists the provider as closed (Ofsted).

Newmarket sits in the West Suffolk district but is a separate town, about 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds. The same town is waiting on a £25 million endoscopy unit at Newmarket Community Hospital, and its applications come through the same West Suffolk planning register.

Who Newmarket Nexus is, on the register

The council’s announcement does not say much about the organisation it is handing the building to. Companies House does.

  • Registered name: Newmarket Nexus, Connecting Young People C.I.C.
  • Company number 15636517, incorporated on 11 April 2024
  • A private company limited by guarantee, registered as a community interest company
  • Registered office: 46 Mill Road, Ashley, Newmarket CB8 9EE
  • Listed trade: retail sale of other second-hand goods (Companies House)

Its shop is at Albion Court, Studlands Park, Newmarket CB8 7XA, open 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 4pm on Sunday (Newmarket Nexus). That address is about 400 metres from the community centre it is taking on. Both sit in the Newmarket North ward.

Key dates for Studlands Park Community Centre and Newmarket Nexus Little Buds Pre-School was registered at The Community Centre, Brickfields Avenue, on 17 September 1990. Newmarket Nexus, Connecting Young People C.I.C. was incorporated on 11 April 2024. Its first full year of accounts ran to 30 April 2026. Two further directors were appointed on 30 June 2026. West Suffolk Council announced the lease to Newmarket Nexus on 4 September 2026. A 36-year tenancy ends, and a two-year-old company takes over Dates as recorded by Ofsted, Companies House and West Suffolk Council. 17 Sep 1990 Little Buds registered at the centre 11 Apr 2024 Newmarket Nexus incorporated as a CIC 30 Apr 2026 first full year of accounts ends 30 Jun 2026 two more directors appointed 4 Sep 2026 lease announced The timeline is not to scale: the first gap is 34 years, the last is ten weeks. Source: Ofsted provider record 251681; Companies House 15636517 and its filing history; West Suffolk Council news release, 4 September 2026. Graphic by The Bury St Edmunds Post

What its first full year looked like

Newmarket Nexus filed accounts for the year to 30 April 2026 on 6 July 2026. They are small company accounts, so no profit and loss account was filed, but the balance sheet and notes give the shape of it:

  • Net assets £2,305, up from minus £2,000 the year before
  • Cash at bank and in hand £4,166, down from £10,809
  • Debtors £8,502, against nil the previous year
  • Creditors falling due within one year £15,915
  • Average of five employees during the year, up from three

A community interest company must also file a CIC report saying what it did for the community and what it paid its directors. This one records that Makayla Beckett, the sole director, received £27,602 in remuneration. Two further directors, Dr Sara Pritchard and Joshua Paul William Hogden, were appointed on 30 June 2026, after the year end (filing history).

What the company says it already does

The CIC report for 2025-26 is the organisation’s own account of its year, signed by the director on 16 June 2026. Alongside the shop, it lists:

  • a Baby Essentials scheme selling nappies, wipes and food pouches at much reduced cost
  • a Teen Hygiene Scheme giving 13 to 17 year olds five essential hygiene products, including toothpaste, deodorant and sanitary items, free and “on a non discriminate basis”
  • a free collection service for large donations, aimed at people who cannot get to the shop
  • a Christmas party for the young people who use its youth provision
  • a quiz night held at the local academy to bring down the cost of prom tickets
  • sponsorship of the academy’s first girls’ school football kit
  • monthly police pop-up events at Nexus, organised by the director, to connect the community and local officers
  • a free community event on a local field

The report says the shop’s purpose is to put cheap goods within reach during the cost of living squeeze, and that opening times and the shop layout were set after asking customers and residents what they needed.

The youth hub this is presumably for

Newmarket Nexus has been saying for some time that it wants a building. Its own website carries a page headed “We are building a Youth Hub for Newmarket”.

In its words, the aim is “a safe, stigma-free environment where young people can come together without an agenda”, with food and drink, comfortable seating and activities, and it argues that the lack of such spaces “often elicits heightened antisocial behaviour because there is nowhere to be” (Newmarket Nexus).

Neither the council nor the company has yet said that the community centre is that hub. What the council’s release does say is that the space “will home a growing range of projects, activities, and initiatives”, with “a particular focus on creating positive pathways, developing skills, and offering safe social spaces for young people”.

What the councillors said

Cllr Donna Higgins, West Suffolk’s Cabinet Member for Families and Communities, said she is “a strong and passionate believer in supporting and engaging young people”, and that Nexus “is about much more and is looking to develop lots of fantastic ideas with the community to benefit residents of all ages”.

Cllr Cliff Waterman, the council’s leader, said the authority is “delighted to be working with Newmarket Nexus”.

Cllr Janne Jarvis, one of the ward members, put it more directly: “The importance of Nexus to Studlands and their commitment to our community simply cannot be overstated.”

Newmarket Nexus used its own announcement to thank Little Buds for “their commitment, hard work, and dedication” over the decades.

What has not been published

Quite a lot, and it is the part that decides how this goes.

  • How long the lease runs, and what the rent is. Neither figure appears in the council’s release, and we found no published decision record setting them.
  • When the centre reopens under the new management, and whether it closes in between.
  • What happens to the pre-school provision that had been at the address.
  • Which activities land there first, and at what times.

We have not been able to confirm any of these from a published source, so we are not going to guess at them.

What it means for you

  • If you use Studlands Park Community Centre, the management is changing. Check with Newmarket Nexus on 01638 505729 before turning up for a regular booking.
  • If you were a Little Buds family, Ofsted now lists that registration as closed. Suffolk County Council’s Infolink is the place to check what childcare remains in the ward.
  • If you want to help, Nexus takes furniture donations and runs a collection service from its shop at Albion Court, Studlands Park.
  • If you want to hold the council to it, the things to ask for are the lease term, the rent and the reopening date. None of the three has been published.

Sources