London Fields workspace and nightclub The Laundry could be demolished to make way for luxury flats
GV of Laundry on Warburton rd - Credit: Archant
A former 1960s laundry transformed by Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien into a workspace, restaurant and nightclub is facing demolition.
The Laundry, an iconic industrial building in Warburton Road, London Fields, could be replaced with an eight-storey workspace scheme with 58 flats - none of which will be affordable.
It currently houses 26 music, arts, fashion and photography workspace units, and the nightclub Mangle E8 where Towie hanger-on Arthur Collins doused clubbers with acid.
Some 80 letters have been received by Hackney Council objecting to the loss of the space, which was co-founded in 2013 by O'Brien with Indian TV businessman Raj Nayak.
Warburton Road LLP and The Laundry Building (Property) Ltd, of which Nayak is one of the directors, are behind the proposals. Just 10 per cent of the planned 2,687 square metres of employment floor space would be "affordable", with 268 sq m to be provided at 80pc of market rent cost in the basement.
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Objectors say affordable spaces for creative firms are on the wane, and that the laundry's demolition would have a negative impact on the "community, diversity, culture and spirit of Hackney".
The Hackney Society acknowledges the site is suitable for development, but has sounded a note of caution over the "drab and unappetising" plans.
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Dan Cox, co-founder of Urchin Studios, which has worked with Florence and the Machine and Tom Odell, said: "It goes without saying that I object to my business being demolished. It will mean the closure of the business as it exists currently. The uniqueness of that space will disappear.
"I think it's very unlikely we'd do it in Hackney, because so many spaces like our building are being pulled down.
"In the wider London context, more and more studios are closing down."
Neighbours in the Monohaus building have also complained about the loss of sunlight and privacy issues the new block would bring.
