THIEVES are targeting a historic community building which is already facing closure.

Thousands of pounds worth of lead has been stolen from Avenue House, in East End Road, Finchley, in the past two years and plants are stolen at least four times a year.

For more than six years, the Avenue Estate Trust has privately run the Grade II listed mid-Victorian mansion and its grounds without any subsidy from Barnet Council.

However, the trust is struggling financially since it lost £35,200 in its annual funding after two tenants vacated Avenue House last year.

The thefts are adding to the financial pressure as well as the fact the estate is seeing a reduced interest in its private functions.

Manager of the trust, Janet Durrant, has estimated around £5,000 worth of plants, including mahonias and rhododendrons, has been stolen and around £100,000 of lead.

The most recent incident happened just two weeks ago, when lead was removed from the balcony at the back of the house.

Ms Durrant said: “The grounds don’t generate any income whatsoever.

“It’s private to the trust and therefore we have to manage it on our own, but to improve and maintain a 10-acre historical garden with nothing coming in to fund it, is extremely difficult.”

The estate’s land was bought in 1874 by Henry Charles Stephens, otherwise known as Inky Stephens, son of the inventor of the famous blue-black ink.

He died in 1918, bequeathing the land to the people of Finchley, before charitable company Avenue House Estate Management took over the running of it from the London Borough of Barnet, in 2002.

The trust has said unless it receives £30,000 by the end of March, it will have to consider handing back the estate to the council.

It is considering charging a fee to the ground’s users or hiring them out, but at the moment the trust is urging residents and businesses in the area to contribute towards its funding.

Donations can be made via the website www.avenuehouse.org.uk or by sending a cheque made payable to Avenue House Estate Trust, to Avenue House, 17 East End Road, N3 3QE.