Dalston institution Passing Clouds the latest venue under threat from developers

On Thursday 16 June, Landhold Developments property developers employed a private security company to evict Passing Clouds, an independent music and arts centre, from their property without warning.

Security personnel from County Enforcement Group entered the building in the early hours of the morning and changed the locks. Within two hours of discovering that the property had been occupied, an “army” of 200 musicians and members of the local community gathered outside the building, later scaling it with ladders and entering through open windows. They peacefully evicted the security personnel and reclaimed possession of the centre.

Passing Clouds say that they are now applying for a High Court injunction to prevent Landhold from re-entering the building, and continuing their 3 month-long programme of events for their 10-year anniversary celebrations, featuring performances from artists including Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen and Benjamin Zephaniah, the celebrated political poet. The events programme has already featured Sun Ra Arkestra, Lee Scratch Perry, and DJ sets from The Specials and Faithless among others.

Thursday’s events followed the ‘secret’ sale of the building to developers in November 2015 - after management had spent years unsuccessfully lobbying their former landlady to sell them the building - and an initial lease extension until mid-August this year. However, according to Passing Clouds, the situation escalated when Landhold asked them to sign a pre-written letter that incorrectly stated that they were voluntarily moving out due to the premises’ poor condition. After centre Director Eleanor Wilson refused to sign the letter, Landhold threatened to evict without notice.

Passing Clouds is an established arts and music venue and community hub in Dalston. It has provided a platform for over 5000 musicians and artists from over 100 countries around the world, as well as feeding thousands of needy people and supporting over 200 social and environmental campaigns as part of its socially conscious business model. A valued community asset, its plight has attracted the attention of politicians, locals and music industry figures alike.

Meg Hillier, Member of Parliament for Hackney South and Shoreditch said: “Live music venues such as Passing Clouds are part of what makes Hackney and Dalston a magnet for creatives and a hotspot in our city’s leisure life. It is vital that developers and planners recognise that it is venues like these that contribute so much to make areas desirable. If these are lost, some of the very reasons why Hackney is such a popular place to live and work are undermined.”

Councillor Emma Plouviez agreed, describing Passing Clouds as a “cornerstone of the community in Dalston”, and Dave Robinson of Stiff Records added that “it is essentially imperative that great live collective venues like Passing Clouds survive and not succumb to the never-ending march of the opportunistic property developers. We need places for our art to exist.”

The news came only days after the sale of Finsbury Park’s The Silver Bullet to the Goodman Restaurant Group amid fears that it will be converted to a branch of Burger and Lobster, and conforms to a worrying pattern of the UK’s small music venues being lost to developers. In recent years, 40% of London’s venues have closed as a result of avaricious developers, licencing pressures, soaring rent and market failure, and the capital’s decline has been echoed around the UK, prompting fears about the future of British music.

A petition and crowdfunding campaign have been set up to demonstrate the importance of the venue to Landhold Developments and raise funds for their campaign to support PR and legal costs.