South Bank: Small arts groups evicted for office development

A group of small businesses trading from an arts space on London's South Bank have been told they need to move out in the new year.

Landowners Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation say the site will be developed into Lambeth's biggest-ever office development.

It also added that it always planned to end its lease to Eat Work Art at Old Paradise Yard on 30 January 2024.

Traders have said they were expecting more notice.

Lambeth Council approved the new office-led development, which will stretch across an area the size of 27 football pitches in December.

But in August, Housing Secretary Michael Gove ordered the project to halt while he decided whether to hold a public inquiry into the proposals.

Since the notice to leave was given, businesses from Old Paradise Yard and supporters from the local community have staged protests outside the foundation's headquarters in central London.

They believe that the lease could be extended while the project remains on hold.

Candice Desmet, who runs Act'In Theatre from Old Paradise Yard, said she believed the foundation was refusing to extend the lease as punishment for businesses objecting to the redevelopment plans previously.

She said: "It's unique what we have here. They are destroying our premises and it will destabilise the business. I don't have a plan B."

Leo Lawson O'Neil, director of Eat Work Art, which rents out the studios to the traders, branded the foundation's decision not to renew their lease while the development plans were on hold as "outrageous".

He said: "We were always promised a discussion, plenty of notice, a mutually beneficial plan and (that) meanwhile use would continue as close to demolition as possible."

In a statement, Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation said the end of the five-year lease at Old Paradise Yard was being "incorrectly represented as evictions".

It added: "The lease was always coming to an end on 30 January 2024 and this has not been influenced by any objections to future plans for the site."

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