Huge TV screens streamed footage of the Grenfell Tower inquiry to empty pews at the Notting Hill Methodist Church in the latest sign of a widening gulf between survivors of the disaster and the multimillion-pound public inquiry set up to uncover why their loved ones died.

Whole days have gone by when not a single person has come into the screening facility which was installed to head off criticism that the court-style venue seven miles away in the Holborn legal district was too remote.

The inquiry has resisted pressure to move proceedings closer to the people of North Kensington most affected by the fire, but the issue is coming to a head again as the first of dozens of the bereaved, survivors and residents begin giving evidence next week about the night of the fire that claimed 72 lives.

One of the leaders of the survivors group Grenfell United told the Guardian she was not sure she would be able to attend the sessions unless the venue was moved.

“The room is cramped and full of lawyers,” said Natasha Elcock, who was trapped on the 11th floor with her six-year-old daughter and boyfriend before managing to escape. “We’ve got just a few seats squeezed in the corner for us. It feels like it’s set up for lawyers, not for us. They are going to be asking survivors to give evidence. I’m still thinking about whether I want to sit there; it doesn’t feel comfortable. They want me to relive that night and then get on a tube in rush hour to get home.”

The process of giving evidence is expected to be emotionally raw and gruelling for witnesses, only 16 months after the fire. Scotland Yard continues to investigate possible criminal charges including manslaughter.

“This is our inquiry,” said Elcock. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask for it to take place near our community. Survivors and bereaved need to be at the heart, not just lawyers. Like many of the BSRs [bereaved, survivors and relatives] I work and have children, so getting time off to go to the inquiry is hard in itself, never mind getting to and from central London during peak rush hour. I know I’m not the only one finding it difficult.”

The inquiry chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, has said that the current venue of Holborn Bars in London’s legal quarter is the nearest place to Grenfell that is suitable for the inquiry, which is expected to run for two years. He ruled out moving it for the month-long evidence sessions from the bereaved and survivors. The fact that eight days of commemoration hearings at the start of the inquiry took place in a Kensington hotel was welcomed by the bereaved, but the inquiry then moved to Holborn.

In a written response to demands for a move by lawyers for the victims this month, Moore-Bick said no suitable venue was “capable of accommodating a four-week hearing in a month’s time”.

Delaying the inquiry to find a different venue has also been ruled out.

“We think it is important now not to lose the momentum of the inquiry so that the findings of the inquiry, including any urgent recommendations concerning public safety, can be brought forward as quickly as possible,” said Mark Fisher, the secretary to the inquiry.

Another member of Grenfell United, Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman died in the fire, said: “We are having the public inquiry because we were ignored and weren’t listened to. The public inquiry is still not listening to us and is still ignoring us. We are fighting with them and talking with them about changing the venue. A lot of us can’t get to it. We need to be at the heart of this but they are not listening to us.”

A spokesman for the inquiry said it wanted to ensure each witness felt able to give evidence to the best of their ability and to feel comfortable.

“We are liaising directly with individual witnesses and their legal representatives to discuss their support requirements,” he said. “The inquiry offers a range of measures to witnesses, which includes support before, during and after their oral evidence. We are open to hearing any further requests for suitable arrangements a witness or their legal representatives might want to make to ensure they are fully supported.”

Dany Cotton, the commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, will become the most senior official to give evidence to the inquiry on Thursday in a session that is expected to be attended by many residents keen for answers about the brigade’s preparedness for the scale of fire that destroyed Grenfell Tower.