A community centre used by more than 100 young people could close after an application for Lottery funding was turned down.

The Sidley Young People's Centre near Bexhill was opened by comedian Eddie Izzard in 1997.

It is run by a community group chaired by his father John, who lives and grew up in the area.

The centre was set up with Lottery grants to help deal with anti-social behaviour in the village and aimed to give 11 to 19-year-olds something to do.

Ten years on it now has more than 100 members, two full-time and one part-time member of staff and is open four times a week.

It is the focal point for all sorts of youth-related activities including canoe trips, snooker and training for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

The centre also has a support worker who looks after and advises youngsters who have been given Asbos.

However, after a request for £50,000 in Lottery grants was this week turned down, organisers say they will struggle to get the cash they need to keep the centre going and it could close at the end of March.

Mr Izzard, 78, said a minimum of £80,000 was needed to pay basic costs such as staff wages, bills, activities and training.

He admitted it would be difficult to raise the cash.

Mr Izzard said: "If we are not successful the centre will close but we are trying to keep that thought to the back of our minds.

"It is too horrible to contemplate.

"We set up the centre to get young people off the streets and give them somewhere to go where they could have a coffee or play pool or table tennis.

"It hasn't solved all the problems in the area but it has solved a lot of them. If we have to close it will not only be a disaster for the young people but also for the community.

"They won't have anywhere to go in the evenings and will be roaming around in groups looking for things to do - there is nothing else for them."

Lottery cash originally paid for the building of the centre in 1997 and for most of the group's activities until 2002.

But since then the community association has struggled to find the cash needed to keep it going, with most grant applications being time-consuming to fill in and with no guarantee that the money will be forthcoming.

The association went back to ask for another Lottery grant in 2005 but was turned down because young people were not involved enough in running the centre.

Community association members dealt with the issues highlighted and re-applied for the grant this year but were again rejected because they had received Lottery cash in the past.