A group of South Bank traders claim they are being unfairly evicted as their landlord looks to remove them without a plan for the site.
Gabriel’s Wharf has been a home for independent businesses since 1988, with its relatively low rents attracting a community of boutique and artisanal traders less than half-a-mile from the Tate Modern.
But its tenants face eviction at the end of September as the site’s owner – the not-for-profit social enterprise Coin Street – begins a process of redeveloping the space.
Many of the Wharf’s traders dispute Coin Street’s claims existing retail units are unfit for purpose however, and say their landlord has largely ignored attempts to find solutions which would allow them to remain in place while long-term plans for the site are yet to be determined.
Sam Knight, an artist in the collective who runs Skylark art gallery, which has been present on the Wharf for more than 30 years, said: “It’s very frustrating when there are no plans yet for what’s going to happen to the space.
“And no matter what they want to do here, they will have to get planning permission — which could take years. It seems like they want the land vacant, without much consideration for the businesses here.
“I have a horrible feeling that we will be forced to leave and then it will sit empty and derelict.”
A Coin Street spokesperson told the South West Londoner it intends to maintain Gabriel’s Wharf as a mixed-use public space, and the income from its commercial spaces funds initiatives like its parks, family services, and community programmes.
The spokesperson added: “The units have reached the end of their life. Their condition demands we take action to regenerate the Wharf for the next 10 to 15 years.
“We don’t yet know what the new meanwhile use will be but, across all our commercial ventures, we strive to ensure there’s a mix of income and social impact, and Gabriel’s Wharf will be no exception.”
Given this uncertainty, many of the Wharf’s traders believe they are being evicted prematurely.
Coin Street has committed to holding a public consultation on the future of the site, though nothing is scheduled to take place before traders and their retail units are removed.
Liz Mathews, potter and co-owner of Potters’ Yard Arts, said: “Why isn’t the public consultation going to take place while we’re still here? That’s what I don’t understand.
“If it doesn’t begin until we’ve gone, the public won’t have the choice to say they’d like us to stay.
“Of course the place needs maintenance, but we don’t accept it needs demolition. It’s not maintenance by bulldozer.”
Mathews added Coin Street owns the nearby Doon Street car park and the vacant lot next to its Neighbourhood Centre on Stamford Street, both of which sit undeveloped, less than 300 metres from Gabriel’s Wharf.
A number of tenants also complained about the abruptness of the eviction announcement in April, claiming it ran contrary to messages they’d received from Coin Street employees up to that point.
Charles Diallo, owner of vegan restaurant Fed by Plants near the Wharf’s southern entrance, claimed he and other tenants were told they would likely be offered five-year extensions to their leases in 2025, and invested thousands of pounds in his unit on the basis of those assurances.
Diallo said: “I invested more than £12,000 in things like the wiring and making a space for people to eat. That’s all just lost.
“You tell us the lease is going to be renewed for five years and then you give us one.”
Diallo added Coin Street has not shared the survey reports which, it claims, informed its judgement that the Wharf’s units are no longer serviceable and a number of tenants have offered to fund an independent survey of the site, only to be rebuffed.
A Coin Street spokesperson said: “[We are] unaware of the residents asking to pay for an independent survey of the site.”
Traders have also launched an online petition to save Gabriel’s Wharf, but many are focussed on making the most of its remaining months and planning what they will do when it closes.
Diallo said: “It’s sad that people can treat you like that.
“You pay your rent, you build a business, ut someone can just turn everything off, and then you have to start all over again.”
Feature image credit: Ajay Smith
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