BOXPARK

To borrow a phrase, rumours of the death of BOXPARK have been greatly exaggerated. Dubbed the world’s first pop-up mall when it debuted in London in October 2011 and hugely influential in creating the environment for the proliferation of food halls since, the original Shoreditch site is under threat.

The reason is that planning permission has been granted to transform the 4.5-hectare space by Shoreditch High Street in East London into a mixed-use scheme with a new park, homes, retail, leisure and office space.

With redevelopment plans confirmed, Boxpark has been asked to vacate the site and while founder Roger Wade – a previous MAPIC speaker – has no problem with that, he is disputing the timing because works are unlikely to start for at least a year, possibly longer.

Instead, he says administrative red tape from the local authority planning department is behind an imminent closure that no-one wants and, along with the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), there is now a campaign to keep Boxpark in place until the site is actually ready for redevelopment.

Originally granted a five-year lease, the shipping container-based site had reached the end of its current lease and had been served notice by landlord Bishopsgate Goodsyard, after occupying the site for 12 years.

However, Wade says that joint venture landlords Ballymore and Hammerson, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and officials at the London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets are all supportive of Boxpark continuing to trade until construction is ready to commence, but claims planning rules are behind its imminent closure.

The owner of the site was originally UK railway infrastructure operator Network Rail and for the development to start the four plots that make up Bishopsgate Goodsyard have to be signed over by Network Rail.

“But that hasn’t happened and our neighbour Power League has just been given a lease extension, so we were hoping for an extension on our lease,” Wade told me. “But the planners are insistent that the planning condition is met, that Boxpark is closed. Our point is we don't mind closing for redevelopment but we do mind closing just for the sake of some planning obligation.”

He adds: “I've got great relationships with my landlords but everyone says their hands are tied. There's somebody in planning at Hackney going well, we're not budging.”Under the redevelopment plans there will still be a significant hospitality element which Wade says Boxpark would like to operate if given the opportunity, having transformed the site from a fashion-led to an F&B-focused destination over the years. Otherwise, when Boxpark does relocate it will seek another site in an area that has become one of London’s trendiest over the past two decades.Wade is no longer active in the day-to-day running of Boxpark but remains on the board and says that the business is also exploring opportunities to open in the US under license, while two new London venues are due open this year, including a shipping container mall at Camden’s Buck Street Market and the first Boxhall premium food and music hall concept at?Liverpool Street. Boxpark opened in?Liverpool last year and will open a?Boxhall in Bristol in 2025, with a Birmingham launch in the pipeline. It already operates sites in Croydon and Wembley to the south and north of London.