Afraz John Khan has run his hardware store, Brixton Tools, from a south London railway arch for more than 20 years. But this week he closed its doors for a final time. After returning the keys to his landlord, Network Rail, the 45-year-old will leave to start a new life in his native Trinidad. His departure, and those of a series of nearby traders, follows a three-year wrangle with the public sector infrastructure operator over plans to refurbish a group of arches in the centre of Brixton, a vibrant but historically underprivileged area known for black activism. “Brixton is home for me, but this has all been a big mess. I’m just trying to hang on to the good memories,” Mr Khan said. Network Rail presented the £8m project as a vital upgrade to the arches, but terminated tenants’ leases to clear them out for the redevelopment work, though it said they would be offered a chance to return. The plan sparked fierce opposition from traders and locals, who saw it as an attempt to introduce steep rent rises and oust longstanding tenants. A petition against the project gathered almost 30,000 signatures, while at the council meeting where it received planning permission, the rapper and activist Potent Whisper (whose real name is Georgie Stephanou) threw red glitter around the room to represent “the blood of Brixton”.
The controversy over Brixton’s arches is not just a local issue. Such battles are set to gather pace as Network Rail — the country’s largest landlord to small and medium sized businesses — seeks a buyer for a portfolio of properties worth more than £1bn that includes thousands of railway arches like these in England and Wales. Bidders include private equity groups such as Blackstone, along with institutional investors, such as a joint venture of Goldman Sachs and the Wellcome Trust, the health charity. Potential buyers will be looking to increase income from the properties, many of which are in London, analysts say. But such spaces have traditionally provided a cheap, if ramshackle, home for small businesses and start-ups, and local communities often react furiously when the landlord’s approach changes. A similar conflict has played out over the past two years in Hackney, another fast-gentrifying area of the capital, and they have previously erupted in Blackfriars and Bethnal Green. In Brixton, renovations announced three years ago have yet to begin, but much of the once-bustling area is covered with hoardings after several tenants accepted compensation and left in 2016. Those closing this week — including Brixton Tools — are the final holdouts who had hoped to take legal action against Network Rail, but after mediation also agreed to leave. Mr Stephanou said: “The Brixton arches have been the backbone of the community for almost a century. They are inextricably linked with Brixton’s cultural and social heritage. It’s not just about the tangible buildings — it’s the community itself they have evicted.” Opposition to Network Rail’s plans has been fuelled in part by rumour: some campaigners say the landlord wants to fill the arches with national chains, but although retail groups such as Sports Direct are arriving nearby, Network Rail maintains chains are “not appropriate” for the arches. It has reserved the right to veto subleases to them. Of more than 4,400 arches it lets out, it says fewer than 30 are leased directly to national chains. The plans to increase rents are not in dispute, however. Tenants in the Brixton arches had been paying “historic rents” averaging £21 per square foot per year, according to Network Rail. Post refurbishment the rail network plans to charge £26 per sq ft — a discount to 2015 market rates, it says — rising to £52 by the sixth year after the renovations. The increases for some arches amount to a tripling of the rent, said the Save Brixton Arches campaign. One tenant, who asked not to be named, said the rents he had been quoted would only be feasible for “Mr Posh Deli or Mr Organic Candle Factory”. The sense of betrayal is especially acute because many of these businesses were established before Brixton found favour with the middle classes. “When Brixton was bad, we were [seen as] good, but now Brixton is good, we’re the bad guys,” said Ray Murphy of Budget Carpets, another business about to vacate its arch. Gentrification has also affected business: Mr Murphy said the market for carpets had declined as twenty-something renters moved into the area, replacing social tenants and homeowners more likely to make long-term investments in their properties. Currently, said Network Rail, 10 of 21 original arch tenants plan to return — not including those who had sublet space — while just two took up the offer of temporary premises elsewhere. Tenants saying they will depart for good include a deli, a coffee shop and fishmonger.
Network Rail said: “We work hard to build strong relationships in the communities where we operate. In Brixton we have met regularly with the Brixton Bid [Business Improvement District], Brixton Society and others, including local politicians, to explain our intentions and work with them. We will continue to do so.” Across its portfolio, Network Rail said arches were “increasingly popular for a range of uses”, with traditional industrial operations joined by “breweries, cafés, theatres and boxing clubs”. James Watson, head of retail capital markets at the property consultancy Colliers, said investors were also eyeing Network Rail’s arches as potential warehousing for “last hour” deliveries of products ordered online. As customers lined up to say goodbye, Mr Khan pointed out how he had helped maintain the Victorian viaduct by pulling out plants that sprouted below the railway line. “I climbed up and pulled the bloody trees out,” he said. “I was here when it was all drugs and shootings and stabbings. I’ve seen the naughty little schoolboys grow up and become parents themselves,” he said. But after what he described as a “David and Goliath” fight, he decided: “That’s it for me. I’m off back to the Caribbean.”
