Hove community garden forced to close after vandalism spike

The Secret Garden, near St Leonard’s Church in Hove, has been plagued at night so often that a night watcher was initially put in place to deter the vandals.

But members of the Secret Garden Group have found a gazebo torched, furniture thrown into a wildlife pond and fencing ripped out.

City councillor Robert Nemeth, the group’s treasurer, said that after the most recent attack things had gone too far.

Dan Boorman, Liz Ogden, Robert Nemeth at the garden

“Some of our volunteers have gone above and beyond in regularly tidying up after large groups of young people turn up at night and sadly wreck the place,” he said.

“This cannot go on. It is not sustainable in terms of our workload and our finances.

“We need parents to impress upon their kids that there are no magical tidy-up fairies in the garden. There are simply hard-working volunteers, and they are now getting quite fed up with it.”

Cllr Nemeth also said that drug paraphernalia has been found at the scene.

Many group members have been put off from using the garden and attending the community social event each Saturday due to the vandalism.

Dan Boorman, a group committee member, said: “It’s heart-breaking because it’s a lovely place for everyone to enjoy.

Members arrived to find their plants had been destroyed

“The garden is there to help everybody, rather than to be a place for anger or destruction. There are a lot of people working really hard, giving their best, only for a few to ruin it.”

Sussex Police are working with the Secret Garden to find a solution. Meanwhile the garden will remain closed until additional security measures are put in place.

The award-winning community space previously shut its doors in 2018, just two weeks after its founder, Mike Sharman, died.

It followed reports of young people playing music, shouting, smoking drugs, and waking people up.

Sussex Police have been contacted for comment on the recent events.