Thousands of people sign petition to save Printworks from being converted into offices

On 22 October heavy news hit the industry. The owners of the Printworks building have submitted plans to convert the famous and cherished London venue into offices. The transformation is scheduled to take place as early as next year.

London is a major cultural epicentre, being a hot spot for clubbing. Hosting important nightclubs clearly helps this reputation. With this announcement that foresees the extinction of one of the most prestigious clubs in all of Europe and undoubtedly one of the icons of the UK, the city could lose that title. Thousands of people around the world have been expressing their shock and displeasure with the plans to convert Printworks into offices and have used different channels to share their outrage and call for music lovers to unite against the conversion of the venue. Now, a petition is calling for the dance music community to save Printworks. Created by Will Goody, the petition is available on change.org and already has over 5,000 signatures. On the official page, the creator states that:

‘The club is an essential part of creative youth culture not just in London, but also the UK. The nightclub ranked number 7 In DJ Mag’s top 100 clubs worldwide in 2021. To lose this beloved venue would be heartbreaking. (…) Printworks offers a vibrant and beloved creative space for many of the [city’s] music lovers to express themselves without fear of judgement. To remove that in the name of further corporatisation of the City would be to rip the soul of the area and heartbreaking [sic] to thousands of people’

3 November is the deadline for all those opposed to the conversion plans to make their views known on Southwark Council’s website, by researching for the reference 21/AP/3338. This petition, in which you can participate by accessing here, will be presented to Southwark Council and London Major Sadiq Khan, alongside British Land, the owners of the building.

After 18 months of the world industry suffering from the pandemic nightlife freeze, it is a huge blow to the London scene to foresee the loss of one of its most powerful icons.

Image Credit: Printworks London (via Facebook)