The iconic East London music venue, Printworks, may not close permanently as initially announced.
The announcement that the venue was set to close its doors for good after Southwark Council approved plans to turn the venue into an office block led to an online change.org petition in October 2022 to protest the closing of Printworks. The petition managed to gather over 11,000 signatures and seemed to have changed Printworks’s fate.
According to an article from NME, a spokesperson for Broadwick Live, the venue’s management, said: “We’re delighted to confirm that in partnership with British Land we are in detailed talks about our return to the venue following the site’s redevelopment.”
Opened in 2017, the venue, which has been described by Mixmag as “the saviour London clubbing desperately needed” and was considered one of the Top 100 clubs in the world by DJ Magazine, has been a staple in the electronic music scene of East London and hosted legendary acts such Aphex Twin, The Chemical Brothers or Bicep over the years.
In a post, shared on Printworks’s official social media pages, the team announced the following:
Additionally, in the statement from Broadwick Live, it was confirmed that the venue will be closing at some point in the New Year for a couple of years for the redevelopment plan to take place. However, the re-opening of the venue, after the redevelopment takes place, is a strong possibility, especially due to the support from the community of fans and partners.
In an Instagram post published on November 18th, Printworks shared a cryptic photo in black and white that reads “2016-2023” with the caption “Link in Bio”. The link leads to a sign-up page for the venue “Final Season” of shows until its planned closure in 2023.
Printworks actually announced back in July the opening of a new venue called The Beams before the petition to save it was launched.
Located near London City Airport, next to the Royal Docks industrial site, the new 55,000 square ft venue opened its doors in October and already received DJ sets from famous artists like Honey Dijon or Michael Bibi.
At a time when more and more clubs and nightlife venues are closing down due to the effects that the pandemic had on the economy, Printworks seems to buck the trend for now.
Edited by Shirin Ghayad