Parents are boycotting a community centre after it banned children on Saturday nights.

Cowley Community Centre, in Barns Road, Oxford, axed a popular family night after complaints about children running riot in the social club. The move has led to at least 150 people not renewing their membership.

Mum-of-two Carol Kelly, 42, of Horspath Road, Cowley, claimed hundreds of parents were boycotting the community centre over the ban.

She said: "It is annoying because it is such a nice club. There were parents who did not look after their children but they should have banned the parents, not the kids." Peter and Helen Dickenson, of Crowberry Road, Blackbird Leys, have been taking their children, Jodie, 11, and Peter, seven, to the social club for five years. Mrs Dickenson decided not to renew her membership of the community association in protest at the ban.

She said: "A family night once a month would be all right. Not all of us can get baby-sitters." Brian Berry, chairman of the 1,600-strong Cowley Community Association, told disgruntled parents to write to the social club's management committee.

He said: "We had a lot of complaints from members that children were running around the dance floor. The ban affects members of the management committee as well."

Story date: Wednesday 14 April

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