Since we’ve been prattling on about the newly occupied Vortex Social Centre we thought we’d better provide some background:
Over 30 Stoke Newington locals met last Wednesday to launch the beginning of a campaign to ‘Keep Starbucks Our Of Stokie’.
The old Vortex Jazz Club in Chruch Street has been identified by Starbucks as a site for redevelopment, a move which is set to infuriate locals and make a tidy profit for current building owner Richard Midda.
Midda took over the premises in 2002 with plans for redevelopment. These plans were thwarted however by a local campaign which collected 2,500 signatures to stop the building being transformed into a restaurant and luxury flats.
Locals demanded that the building remain a cultural centre to stage and promote events, meetings, concerts etc for the benefit of the wider community. Midda didn’t agree and launched a change of use application in 2004, requesting that downstairs remains a cafe/bar (with ancillary music – which could mean anything) and the conversion of the Jazz Club upstairs into luxury flats.
According to Hackney Council’s (bunch of cunts) website this application has now been granted after Midda appealed last year. In the meantime several locals have opted for direct action and on Saturday 20th January the Vortex opened as a Social Centre. This space will provide free entertainment, a donation only cafe, a parent and baby group and a meeting space for local groups.
It has already proved hugely popular attracting several hundred visitors in it’s first week.
So, back to Starbucks. When rumours abounded that the global coffee chain were planning to open up in the space downstairs, activists immediately contacted them for clarification. Starbucks claim to be interested in the site and interested in coming to Stoke Newington, however they point out that no paperwork has yet been formally completed. They are anticipating to sign contracts in the early Summer.
Others rumours claim that Midda has also been in negotiations with Tescos over the site. Locals have recently shown that they are determined to resist such a move and that they intend to decide, as a community, how the building will be developed.
When Midda turned up on the morning of Friday 26th with non-court appointed bailiffs, a decidedly dodgy and quite possibly illegal move, up to a hundred local people attended at 9am to defend the premises.
When police were called to the scene it became clear that the legality of Midda’s actions could not be established and he was warned that police would neither support the eviction or indeed allow it to take place. The bailiff company also confirmed that health and safety reasons [revented them from being able to carry out the eviction.
Lawyers on both sides are now set to attempt to establish the legality or otherwise of Midda using non-court appointed bailiffs to carry out evictions, something he claims to have done successfully before.
In the meantime The Vortex Social centre remains open with a packed programme of free events, details of which can be found at http://www.londonsocialcentre.org.uk/.
Like this:
Like Loading...
A new coalition called Enough! has been lauched who are planning a large style demonstration and Central London concert demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
