London is crammed full of houses, apartments, flats, pods and other tight squeezes of expensive places to live. And more of them are being built. All. The. Time.
When IKEA in Tottenham shut its doors, it’d have been a fair assumption to assume the place would just become another big block of flats; filled up with the ghosts of the flatpack furniture it used to stack against its walls.
So when the news broke about Drumsheds, the brand new giant event space that is taking over the old Tottenham IKEA next month, it felt like an exciting surprise, particularly given the clubs in the same area – like The Cause – that have been forced to close.
Drumsheds is still very much planned to open, and has a fantastic lineup of events announced with the likes of Andy C, Bicep, Charlotte de Witte, Skepta and more all due to play. But news has emerged of plans to redevelop the old Tottenham IKEA site to create thousands of new flats.
Pymmes Waterside Site, the ‘real’ name of IKEA’s old territory could be allowed by Enfield Council to allow Sheppard Robson, an architecture firm, to carry out their plans for the area. This would involve building 2,830 new homes as well as a hefty 30,035 square metres of office and retail space, which would include educational and community facilities across the ten new buildings.
A bleak aspect of all this is that in realising the project, Drumsheds would need to be removed in order for the new buildings to be created. In the wake of nightclubs closing across the city, and London’s nightlife in danger, it isn’t the best feeling to be talking of a new one closing before anyone has attended an event there. But this is where we find ourselves.
There is still a chance the proposal is blocked, however. A construction hearing is taking place later this year to determine the space’s outcome ahead of a possible planning application. Let’s hope the Drumsheds dream can continue smoothly into the London nights out.