A café and community space in the heart of Woolwich has closed after a row with its landlord.
George Neris, who runs Artfix, has accused British Land, which owns much of the town centre, of wanting to cash in on works to regenerate Powis Street by bringing in a food outlet that could pay a higher rent. The property company has denied this, saying it hopes to bring in a charity to occupy the space.
Artfix opened in Powis Street in March 2017, offering a café, gallery space, workshops, film screenings and co-working spaces. It moved in as Woolwich won a “cultural destination” award with three years of events taking place in the town centre.
The business, which had originally been based in Soho, became a fixture of Powis Street, including hosting screenings for the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival, but closed suddenly earlier this month. Neris is now planning to cross the Thames and set up in Barking instead.
Woolwich town centre is currently undergoing a multi-million pound transformation with £17.1 million of government levelling-up cash going towards improving Powis Street with new planting, seating and paving, and revamping nearby Beresford Square.
Another £1.7 million from Historic England, backed up by £2 million from the council, paid for a new shopfront for Artfix and other businesses, as well as murals and restoring the Old Town Hall building. Artfix was also used as a venue to ask locals about the plans.
Neris said: “My understanding is that British Land wanted to kick us out to bring in some other cheap food chain that can pay more than us. Especially now that the Woolwich taxpayer has paid millions for the makeover of Powis Street, and ourselves some thousands for our new shop front.
“Crime is going up and more cheap chains like Popeyes and Taco Bell have sprung up in the last months there, taking advantage of the Powis Street facelift.
“This is not what we signed up for when we decided to come to Woolwich seven years ago.”
Both British Land and Greenwich Council told The Greenwich Wire that Neris had been subletting space to a charity. But Neris said this was “an outright lie”.
He added: “What they are referring to is a charity we were hosting, operated by our own manager under our co-working scheme, which was known by British Land for the past seven years and is still advertised on our website.”
Neris accused both British Land and Greenwich Council of changing their plans for Woolwich – and said the council had not taken seriously the delays to works in Powis Street, much of which has been covered in fencing since last autumn.
The contractor, Geoffrey Osborne Ltd, went into administration in April. Work resumed at the end of May, after a five-week delay, with a new contractor, Elite, and is scheduled for completion next spring.
“The plan was that it would become an artistic creative district but things have gone the opposite direction,” he said.
“We have been sustaining losses because of the delay in completing the works for which the council is not taking responsibility. When we asked for their intervention with regards to British Land, they did nothing.
“I think the council’s and British Land’s plans have changed as to their vision for Woolwich. We have explicitly asked British Land as well as the leader of the council for their position and they have repeatedly failed to answer.
“Until they do, there is no sense for Artfix to stay in Woolwich. We are opening our new flagship store in Barking soon and will probably move everything there.”
Nerris said that Artfix’s other locations, in Kidbrooke and Greenwich Market, would stay open “at least for now”.
British Land told The Greenwich Wire that Neris had been “occupying 51 Powis Street as a tenant at will since his previous lease expired in January 2022”.
It continued: “Despite continued efforts by British Land to enter a new lease, information required to do so was not forthcoming. Furthermore, Mr Neris was informed on several occasions that if immediate progress was not made, his tenancy would be terminated.
“Additionally, Mr Neris unlawfully sublet the premises to a charity organisation. British Land has since offered this charity a new lease for the entire premises following the departure of Artfix.
“British Land shares the council’s goal of strengthening Woolwich’s place as a thriving retail centre within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.”
Greenwich Council said that Woolwich was a “priority area” with a “bright future”. It added: “We recognise how well liked ArtFix is by local residents and that some people will be saddened to hear of its closure. However, we look forward to welcoming Mama2Mama, the charity that British Land has since offered the lease to.
“Over the years the Council has been extremely supportive of ArtFix. It was one of the many businesses along Powis Street that we helped by sprucing up its shopfront and paying towards those costs. We are disappointed to hear the comments that the owner is now making against his former landlord and ourselves.”
Updated at 5.05pm with Greenwich Council comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.