Olympics push out art studios

ART STUDIOS in Hackney could be forced to close as the approach of the 2012 Olympic Games causes landlords to sell up or increase their rent requirements, writes Chris Green

Two premises just east of the borough have already shut down, partly because they fell foul of a Compulsory Purchase Order obtained by the London Development Agency (LDA) in preparation for the Games. This means that the LDA can force the owners to sell their land if they believe it will benefit the borough. Now there are fears the same fate could befall some Hackney studios.

The borough’s thriving art scene has previously attracted some of the UK’s hottest young talent. Tracey Emin and street artist Banksy both began their careers in Hackney, and Jake and Dinos Chapman still live in the area.

Arnaut Orford, of Hackney-based arts charity SPACE, said: “Mostly, the organisations hardest hit will be the smaller studios. The Olympics are pushing up rent, and this affects individual artists because they can’t afford the rent for the space to display their work.”

Joanna Hughes is the founder of Mother Studios, which has been providing space for artists to work since 2001. Luckily, her building lies just outside the LDA’s Compulsory Purchase Zone in Hackney Wick, but she is not optimistic about the future.

She said: “As far as rent goes, we are not being affected yet. But the landlord could easily get rid of us by putting up the prices, which we couldn’t afford because it would defeat the point of being here in the first place.

“I am totally certain that these studios will come to an end, and a lot quicker than they would have done if it weren’t for the Olympics. At the heart of it is that nobody really cares if the artists stay or not. They just presume we will go somewhere else.”

Joanna currently charges between £6.50 and £10 per year for each square foot of space in the studio, a cost which increased last year.

“There are 50 artists working here, and whatever happens I want to be able to keep the price at a level I would have been able to afford when I was an artist,” she said.

Anna Harding is the chief executive of SPACE, which owns many of the studios dotted around the borough. She sees the price rises as in line with current rates of inflation.

She said: “Naturally our spaces are under threat due to rising property prices, but this is not particularly Olympic related. Hackney prices have been going up steadily for years, and the Olympics may just be drawing attention to the pace of change.

“Nothing is certain and artists certainly don’t want to leave Hackney. But the future involves thinking more openly about the type of space artists might occupy, and the terms on which they take on properties.”


The potential for a price hike is not worrying everyone in Hackney’s artistic community – the larger, more financially successful galleries can afford to be more philosophical about the rising expenses.

Ilsa Colsell of Stuart Shave modern art gallery said: “Rising prices might affect the smaller studios and less established artists, but we’re doing quite well here. Artists themselves are part of the gentrification of an area anyway - there’s always going to be richer people driving others out.”

Stuart Shave is currently based on Vyner Street, a popular destination for Hackney artists, but is relocating to the West End in the summer after healthy profits enabled it to afford a higher rent.

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BUSINESS BRIEFING: How the 2012 Olympics will affect the borough’s economy

Hackney is bracing itself for the Olympic Games, and local businesses are crossing their fingers for a profitable 2012, writes Sarah Bloch


As the budget rises by the week, and Londoners tighten their belts to pay the additional council tax levy, the festive spirit of the Games is fast ebbing away. But Hackney stands to see the direct benefit of government investment, with almost a third of the Olympic Park falling within its walls.

Top of Hackney’s shopping list is transport. It’s the only inner London borough north of the Thames without the tube and local rail services stop infrequently at run down stations. Hackney’s transport deficiencies reinforce the perception that it is isolated from central London, despite its proximity to the Square Mile; this deprives it of visitors and investment.

The extension of the East London Line will bring the underground into the borough for the first time. The North London Line, which serves Hackney Central and Dalston Kingsland, will also be upgraded in time for 2012.

Vital for Hackney are the estimated 150,000 jobs the Olympics will create over the next seven years. A further 12,000 workers will be needed to service the site after the competition. Currently the demand is for construction workers, but during the Games more will be needed from the tourism, media and hospitality industries. A partnership with Hackney Community College to form a centre of vocational excellence has been set up so young people can qualify under the construction skills certification scheme. These are lasting skills that will be in demand long after 2012.

Hackney will host the Olympic food court and the council hopes that building on the area’s strengths in this sector will lead to permanent jobs. One idea is to offer central London markets the chance to relocate to a ‘food cluster’ in Hackney. This will draw on the strong tradition of street markets in the borough and offer significant business opportunities to existing stallholders and small businesses.

The borough will be also be made more attractive by £4 million worth of investment in parks, green spaces and sports facilities, including an international standard basketball arena.

While the rest of Britain moans and groans about increasing costs, Hackney has the chance to witness real change on its doorstep. The benefits of reinvigorating Hackney’s economy should not be overlooked.

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Lights, Camera, Bankrupt

FILMMAKERS in Hackney face a bleak future if new tax rules scare off investors, industry experts claimed this week. Laura Oliver reports.

The government has effectively closed a tax loophole that had allowed wealthy investors to back high-risk ventures and use any losses to reduce their tax bill.

But film producers in Hackney and across the UK are concerned that current projects will be affected by the new regime, which was introduced without notice.

Charles Rubinstein, general manager of The Rio Cinema on Kingsland High Street, said: “The proposed changes to tax relief are going to be particularly problematic for productions close to filming and will not make feature film production easier in the long term.”

Rubinstein added that more independent productions such as those shown at The Rio would be less affected.

“Filmmakers like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach have a very hard time getting finance in this country with or without tax relief incentives,” he said.

A spokesperson from the UK Film Council, the government-backed agency for film in Britain, said: “It isn’t just about film, it’s about clamping down on tax avoidance. Provisions have been made to exempt films on which production has already started.”

In January the government introduced a new tax credit scheme for films, which gives a tax break to filmmakers who spend at least 25 per cent of their budget in the UK.

But many industry insiders fear the latest move will cause a similar funding crisis to that in 2004 when the government closed a related tax loophole.

Around 40 films were affected including the Oscar-winning The Constant Gardener and The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp. Currently under threat is the remake of the St Trinian’s film - its financiers say it could be scrapped.

Hackney has had a long history of filmmaking since the success of the Gainsborough Film Studios in Hoxton’s Poole Street during the 1940s. Shoreditch, Hackney Marshes and Clissold Park are among the popular filming locations.

First time feature director Saul Dibb chose Hackney as the backdrop for his critically acclaimed Bullet Boy in 2005.

Felicity Jump, Hackney council’s film locations officer, said: “Filming in London brings both economical and cultural benefits.

“It brings tourists to Hackney and brings money into the borough, with many film crews filming in local properties, and making donations to user groups, resident associations, community groups and schools.”

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Hackney set to become richer

A NEW study has predicted the diminishing of Britain’s wealth divide by 2015 - which is good news for Hackney, writes Ronan Murphy.

SG Hambros Private Bank has estimated that the North West and the East Midlands will close the gap in affluence with London and the South East over the next eight years.

In London itself, Hackney and the rest of North East London is also set to undergo substantial growth.

London will still maintain its overall momentum, and a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report forecast anticipates it becoming the fourth largest city economy in the world by 2020.

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BT to get tough with bill-dodgers

HACKNEY residents who do not pay their BT phone bill by direct debit will be hit with an extra charge in the future, writes Ronan Murphy.

BT will add £4.50 to their quarterly bills from May 1 because non-direct debit payments cost more to process and are more likely to be paid later, a spokesman said.

The charge will affect over five million people across the nation. Major companies such as Virgin Media and the Post Office make similar charges for non-direct debit payment.

Trading Standards have attacked BT over the move, calling it “outrageous” and “unjustified”.

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British Gas to cut prices in Hackney

BRITISH Gas customers in Hackney will enjoy significant cuts to their gas and electricity bills this year, writes Ronan Murphy.

The energy giant has reduced its annual gas prices by 17 per cent and its electricity prices by 11 per cent, with the dual bill dropping £167, from £1,120 to £953.

The price cuts come in response to a general lowering in the cost of wholesale gas prices in the last six months, and after the company lost one million customers last year. Other energy firms are planning to follow suit and cut costs.

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Hackney businesses go ethical

Businesses across Hackney have taken part in a drive to guarantee a better deal for developing countries by urging consumers to change their shopping habits, writes Liz Gyekye.

Fair Trade fortnight, which continues this week, has already seen big retailers such as Sainbury’s in Dalston and Tesco in Homerton selling and promoting the products.

The council wants to encourage as many firms as possible to sign up to the scheme in order to cement its position as an official fair trade borough. But not all business leaders have joined, claiming the council is imposing a politically correct initiative that is difficult to implement.

Lee Wild, duty manager from Sainsbury’s in Dalston, said: “At the end of April all our bananas will be Fair Trade. We will be moving heavily into the market and our buyers will spend a lot of time visiting people in developing countries.”

The Mother Earthm, a Stoke Newington health shop, stocks a variety of the products.

One of its best selling products is its Fair Trade Palestinian olive oil, called Zaytoun. “These olives come from trees that are over 1,000 years old. We are one of the few retailers in the UK to stock it and we are giving a market for the oil in a positive way.

A business committed to fair trade must sell and use fair trade products as much as it can.

For Hackney to achieve Fair Trade status it must pass five goals:

- the council is required to serve Fair Trade tea and coffees at meetings
- fair trade products must be available in local cafes
- local work places such as hairdressers must endorse the products
- popular support must be obtained
- and a local steering group must be committed to the town achieving Fair Trade status.

Councillor Ian Rathbone, Labour Party member for the Leadbridge Ward admitted support is still limited but insisted the movement is growing all the time. He said: “Many people in Hackney want to help and pay a few pence more.”

Mischa Borris, Green Party Councillor for Clissold, said: “As the demand for fair trade increases, retailers who do not stock fair trade will lose out.

“They realise there's a demand and if they don't stock it someone else will.”

Zeta Lakhali, volunteer at the Fair Trade Foundation charity, said: “All businesses that comply are included and we try to get as many people as possible. But we will not force them to comply.”

But some businesses remain sceptical about the benefit of stocking Fair Trade products. James Warren, co-owner of Contact Hairdressing, said: “It is definitely hard for us to use Fair Trade products. For instance, take colouring: if we are to provide the best colours to use for our clients they would prefer to use L’Oreal. We are not in control of what L’Oreal do.”

UK sales of Fair Trade products amounted to less then 0.2% of total grocery sales, according to the Institute of Grocery Distribution’s UK grocery retailing 2006 report. Brands such as PG Tips and Tetley still have a hold on the tea market - and fair trade tea accounts for less than 2%.

Big businesses are increasingly realising the branding potential of ethical products and many are scrambling to cash in. Cadbury’s recently acquired the Green and Blacks fair trade chocolate brand.

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