The Arch Company has been given the go-ahead to develop a new music venue spanning two railway arches under Fenchurch Street station in the City of London.
The company, created when Blackstone Property Partners and Telereal Trillium bought more than 5,000 railway arches from Network Rail, will turn arches 9A and 9B at Crutched Friars, EC3, into a new venue.
The Arch Company had hoped to develop a nightclub at the site, running until 2am, but the plans received objections from local residents. It then removed the nightclub aspect from the proposals, retaining the music venue usage. In an updated planning application, it said the latter would be “more akin to an intimate jazz club/music venue as opposed to a large, busy music venue”.
The two-storey arches once housed a Ladbrokes betting shop on the ground floor, with the first floor vacant. There is a basement level below the site occupied by the Munich Cricket Club Bierkeller bar and restaurant. Other tenants on Crutched Friars include the Cheshire Cheese pub.
The scheme is part of the Arch Company’s Project 1000, a development plan to invest £200m in bringing 1,000 empty or derelict spaces back into use across England and Wales by 2030. “Our proposal for these arches under Fenchurch Street station is to make space for new businesses to thrive,” chief executive Craig McWilliam told EG at the time of the initial application.
Photo by Lucas Allmann/Pexels
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