An eagerly-awaited £6.5 million pound youth centre complete with a climbing wall, gym, boxing ring, and recording suite, to name just a few, has opened.

More than 1,400 people celebrated Barnet’s ‘greatest show’ as the borough’s OnSide Youth Zone, Unitas, officially opened its doors to young people.

The grand opening for the centre, which had a ‘Greatest Showman’ theme, offered everyone in the Barnet community the opportunity to see what is on offer.

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As with all OnSide Youth Zones, the £6.5million facility has an incredible range of facilities including a four-court Sports Hall, gym, 3G all-weather pitch, music room with recording suite, training kitchen, dance studio, health and well-being room, arts and crafts area and much more.

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So far, a 1,000 people have signed up as members. Annual membership costs £5 and then it is 50p for every visit.

Young people between the age of 8-19 are welcome as well as disabled people up to the age of 25.

The centre, which is open seven days a week, in Montrose Avenue, Edgware, is the first Youth Zone in north London.

And you do not have to be living in Barnet to visit.

The centre has already welcomed a special guest; Oscar winning DJ and producer Mark Ronson where he offered young a people a masterclass in music production.

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As well as providing land for the building, Barnet Council contributed £4.2m to construction costs, with £2.8m coming from a range of charitable trusts and foundations including Bernard Sunley Foundation, the Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, the Linbury Trust, The Benson Black Charitable Trust, the Gerald and Gail Ronson Family Foundation, The Rubin Foundation and the Seroussi Foundation via Vistra Jersey and the UBS Optimus Foundation.

Annual £1.4m running costs will be funded by a range of trusts, grants, private sector and philanthropic contributions.

Unitas Youth Zone CEO Tony Lewis said: “What an incredible day. We were delighted to welcome so many people from the Barnet community, including hundreds of young people, to Unitas to celebrate our grand opening. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for turning this dream into a reality, giving young people in Barnet somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to."

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Councillor David Longstaff, chairman of Barnet Council’s children, education and safeguarding committee, said: "It is fantastic to see Barnet’s new Youth Zone officially open after all the years of hard work which have gone into making it a reality. Unitas is only the second Youth Zone to open in London and we were so incredibly proud that we have been able to support and invest in this ambitious project.

"Our young people are very important to us and the amazing array of facilities and activities available under one roof here is absolutely first class. I have no doubt Unitas will prove enormously popular with our young people for many years to come."