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The beloved venue Printworks will live to fight another day, as plans to shut down the south London nightlife institution for good might be shelved due to a massive public backlash.
It was first announced that Printworks would be closing to be developed into offices in July this year. The huge industrial venue is in the middle of British Land’s redevelopment of Canada Water, and plans were approved to transform the 490,000 sq ft building into offices, co-working areas and retail spaces in the summer.
Since then, there has been an outpouring of support for the venue from dedicated electronic music heads and partygoers, including a petition signed by more than 11,000 people and almost 700 council objections. Thanks to this, Southwark Council has rethought its plans, and British Land has said that it is working with Broadwick Live, the company that runs Printworks, to keep the venue operating as a club in the new building. While the majority of the structure will still be redeveloped, British Land said it was going ‘to explore retaining a cultural venue’ permanently.
The Surrey Quays venue opened in 2017 and can host up to 6,000 clubbers. It’s been renowned for its stellar electronic music programming and banging sound system, and has seen the likes of Helena Hauff, Aphex Twin and Peggy Gou behind the decks over the years.
This good news shows that not all hope is lost for London’s waning club scene, and that collective action in the capital can lead to some good. Keep using your voices!
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