A new 2,000 capacity music venue and food hall will be based in the former branch of The Range at Surrey Quays Shopping Centre.
It is expected to open in the next few months. The 1980s shopping centre is set to eventually be demolished as part of larger plans to redevelop the area near to Canada Water station.
A Southwark Council Planning Committee approved plans for the new venue at a meeting on Wednesday evening (February 5).
When The Range closed last Summer many locals were upset at the loss of the discount store saying they feared affordable shopping would be replaced by high prices as the area undergoes massive regeneration with an estimated 18,000 new residents expected to move in.
The shopping centre will not be bulldozed until at least 2028 when the large Tesco is replaced with a new store, but this 55,000 sqaure foot venue, to be known as Corner Corner, will open up and stay open on the site for five years.
According to proposals submitted by developer British Land, Corner Corner will include an events space, food hall and an indoor farm. Herbs and salad leaves grown on the farm will be used in meals served in the venue’s food hall.
The indoor vertical farm, dubbed London’s largest commercial farm, will allow up to 200 different crops to be supplied to the food hall and an all-day café, as well as to restaurants in the local area.
It will also host interactive experiences to encourage local people to engage creatively with sustainable produce and cooking.
A Minecraft Experience is being advertised to open there on April 4. A ‘Village Rescue’ has also been announced recently as one of its first installations in Corner Corner’s 18,000 sqaure foot live events space. This space will also be available to hire for other events
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Broadwick, who ran nearby club Printworks which closed in 2023, will manage the new venue. Corner Corner is expected to mainly host jazz and other ‘low key music events’ rather than the huge club nights Printworks was famous for.
Printworks is expected to be reborn in a new venue a part of Canada Water’s wider regeneration.
According to council planning documents related to the Corner Corner application: “The internal music levels assumed in the noise assessment do not allow for a traditional live music / concert hall type venue as the internal levels they are using are too low to enable most commercial artists.”
Proposals approved by the committee would in principle allow Corner Corner to open until 3am from Thursday to Saturday. The venue would still need to get licensing permission from the council. But a representative from Broadwick told the meeting that Corner Corner was not intending to regularly open until 3am, adding that the late opening hours applied for ‘just gives us flexibility in the future for the odd event that might come up’.
Resident DJs spinning jazz, funk, soul, disco and world music are expected to be performing on Thursday evenings, while there will be live jazz and ticketed shows every Friday and Saturday (subject to licensing).
Roger Madelin, Head of Canada Water at British Land, said: “Having worked with world-leading organisations Broadwick and KERB for many years, we never cease to be amazed with their appealing, relevant and uplifting ideas, and Corner Corner is going to be no different.
“This new cultural venue is a totally fresh concept, and securing consent to deliver our proposed vision is fantastic recognition of the critical role Canada Water has within London’s cultural offering.”
A British Land representative told Southwark Council’s planning meeting: “This venue will create new employment opportunities during both the construction and operational phase.”
A Planning Committee made up of Labour councillors Richard Livingstone, Cleo Soanes, Kath Whittam and Michael Situ approved the application unanimously. Cllr Whittam, member for Rotherhithe, said she had concerns about the late opening hours but accepted the proposals were ‘good’ and had lots of variety. She joked: “The music offer apparently is going to be jazz mainly, which I would vote against.”
Additional reporting Isabel Ramirez
