The London multi-storey that is too cool for cars

Having been rejected for a scheduled listing at London Fashion Week, she decided to go it alone.

Hunting around her local area, she decided on an unlikely venue - the multi-storey car park on Great Eastern Street. It charges £3 an hour to park your car but Jones managed to persuade its owner to let her use its open-air, rooftop storey for nothing.

Ironically perhaps, given the location, the collection was called Romantic Poverty. "The car park suited my brand well," says Jones. "It's near where I work, with an amazing view of the City. People won't forget coming to a show up here."

The unlovely car park is now the cool arts venue of choice, it seems. In a recession, the gritty industrial aesthetic offers a perfectly neutral space. They are used for art car boot sales (Brick Lane), farmers' markets (Marylebone's Moxon Street) and book fairs. The Field Day festival after-party last month was held at the old Hearn Street Car Park in Shoreditch.

Chris Corbin and Jeremy King of The Wolseley are opening their first boutique hotel in an Art Deco former garage in Mayfair. The four-storey building on Balderton Street, which will feature a sculpture by Antony Gormley, will have two floors added and special extensions in the existing bays.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Garage Turenne, a 1,600 sq m old car park with a glass roof, stages couture shows and photography exhibitions.

Over in Peckham, its most famous disused car park, the multi-storey on Rye Lane, has a rooftop Campari bar and restaurant, Frank's (designed by Paloma Gormley), and a gallery space programmed by Hannah Barry. Its annual sculpture show, Bold Tendencies, features large-scale pieces by artists aged under 35. Film4 held a launch there in the summer.

"It's rare for artists to make big work in London, and you get these fantastic views across the city," says Joe Creighton-Balfour at Hannah Barry.

Frank's bar started "very innocently, to reward visitors who'd made the trek to a dodgy old car park in Peckham", and in the summer months is one of London's coolest venues. (This week is your last chance to catch it before it closes for winter on Friday.)

Peckham's seven-acre Copeland Industrial Park, centred on a huge car park, already features a club space, café, Pentecostal church and four galleries. Garudio Studiage, a co-operative of four artists specialising in screen-printing, jewellery and painting, have spilled into two units. They have designed gifts and medals for Graham Norton, window displays for Paul Smith and the Nation of Shopkeepers Colouring Book (based on architecture of Rye Lane).

Mira Kaushik, of South Asian dance company Akademi, stages shows in public spaces across London and in the summer put on a number of surprise shows in car parks.

"Making a creative moment in a car park is an unconventional start or end to a journey, which changes the whole routine of their day," says Kaushik. "When we performed in Battersea it was fascinating to engage with a transitory audience who were not expecting a performance. They were amused and excited, though some were irritated because all they wanted was somewhere to park."

For more visit:
www.getbolshie.com
www.hannahbarry.com
www.thebusseybuilding.com
www.garudiostudiage.com
www.akademi.co.uk

The Royal Court Theatre is transferring two plays, Truth and Reconciliation by Debbie Tucker Green, and The Westbridge by Rachel De-Lahay, to the  Bussey Building, Copeland Car Park, 133 Copeland Road, Peckham SE15 from 29 Sep - 19 Nov.

Tickets  pay-what-you-like on the door or £10 in advance from the Royal Court Theatre Box Office: 020 7565 5000 or online at www.royalcourttheatre.com

Frank's Cafe & Campari Bar (with the Bold Tendencies exhibition), is on 10th floor, Peckham Multistorey Car Park, 95a Rye Lane, Peckham SE15.  Open until 30th September, www.frankscafe.org.uk