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Council rent rise threatens ceramics showcase
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard10 Jul 2008
An art gallery that has showcased the best of British ceramics for decades is threatened with closure because of a huge rent increase.
Contemporary Ceramics was set up 47 years ago and has been based in Marshall Street, Soho, for 40 years. It is owned and run by members of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain, a non-profit provident society, and sells the work of studio potters from around Britain as well as showcasing pieces by ceramics graduates in an annual exhibition.
The shop has always paid its landlord, Westminster council, 75 per cent of the full market rent. But when the current lease expired in October last year the council scrapped the discount.
Potters association chairman Jack Doherty said that this, plus a proposed rent increase, would add up to a 60 per cent annual rise - from £47,500 to £75,000 - forcing the gallery to shut.
"The closure of this gallery will represent a major catastrophe for the crafts sector in the UK," he said. "London will lose an internationally respected specialist ceramics venue. Soho will lose a unique and much-loved cultural institution. Many of the finest ceramicists in the UK will lose the London showcase for their work. Students, teachers and aspiring ceramicists will lose a resource which for some 47 years has provided them with inspiration, education and their first step on an artistic career."
A council spokesman said: "Commercial discussions are taking place with the tenants and we are aiming to resolve this issue in the coming weeks."
