Interview: Save Boxpark Campaign Launched As Founder Slams Crazy Planning Rules

Despite widespread reports that the fate of the original Boxpark in Shoreditch was sealed, with closure set for August, defiant founder Roger Wade has launched a campaign to save the famous pop-up mall.

The shipping container-based site reached the end of its lease and had been served notice by landlord Bishopsgate Goodsyard after occupying the site for 12 years.

Planning permission has been granted to transform the 11.1-acre space by Shoreditch High Street into a mixed-use scheme with a new park, homes, retail, leisure and office space. However, Wade told Bisnow that various administrative procedures mean the scheme is unlikely to start on site for at least another year and questioned the logic in closing Boxpark before redevelopment can go ahead.

Wade added that joint venture landlords Ballymore and Hammerson, the Greater London Authority and officials at the London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets are all supportive of Boxpark continuing to trade, but it is planning rules that are behind its imminent closure.

As a result, the Night Time Industries Association is to lead a campaign to keep Boxpark in place until the site is actually ready for redevelopment.

“We’ve got our landlords Ballymore and Hammerson on board. We've had the councils and the GLA all supporting us. It is a planning condition that Boxpark comes off-site by a certain deadline, meeting a condition and a planning requirement,” Wade said. “What we're saying is that if you look at the four plots, one of which is ours, at Bishopsgate Goodyards, the owner of the site was originally Network Rail.” 

“For the development to start, the four plots have to be drawn down as beneficial ownership from Network Rail, but that hasn’t happened. And actually, our neighbour Power League have just been given a lease extension, so we were hoping for an extension on our lease,” he added. “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.”

Wade pointed to the jobs, footfall, business launches and economic benefit that Boxpark has brought to Shoreditch and said up to 300 jobs could be lost with its closure.

“This is crazy because if Boxpark closes, we're going to have job losses, we're going to have a major driver of economic activity in that area taken away and we're going to have the failure of 50 businesses. And this is all because somebody needs to tick a box,” he said.

“I've got great relationships with my landlords, and they say, ‘Look, my hands are tied, Roger.’ The council is saying, ‘We want you to stay, but our hands are tied.’ And I've got the GLA saying, ‘We want you to stay, but our hands are tied.’ But there's somebody in planning at Hackney going, ‘Well, we're not budging,’” Wade added. “It feels very much like the tail wagging the dog.”

When Boxpark first opened in October 2011, it had a guaranteed term of five years and has since had a rolling one-year lease. Wade said that under the redevelopment plans there will still be a significant hospitality element “which we would love to just move into,” but if not, Boxpark will seek another site in the area.

“It was the first Boxpark. I was so naive, I literally designed it myself. I couldn't even find an architect, and it's not even built on foundations, it's built on sleepers. I’m no longer the beneficial owner, I own a minority. But I do genuinely care about the people that work there and the businesses, I just hate the stupidity of it,” he added.

Rather, Wade said he would like Boxpark to close when construction is ready to start, ideally enabling a “seamless transition” that gives the company enough time to find a site. But he reflected: “It just seems like Mr Clipboard has taken over.”

Beyond the immediate campaign to save the original site, Wade said that the business is exploring opportunities to open in America to operate something under license and said that beyond its UK expansion, the U.S. is the most likely next destination. 

Two new London venues are due open this year, including a shipping container mall at Camden’s Buck Street Market as well as the first Boxhall premium food and music hall concept at Liverpool Street. Boxpark also opened its first regional location in Liverpool last year and will open a Boxhall in Bristol in 2025, while a Birmingham launch is in the pipeline. Boxpark’s Croydon and Wembley sites continue to trade as normal.

After being at the helm for around 10 years, Wade still sits on the board and contributes, particularly when it comes to property and new sites, and away from Boxpark he is investing in young businesses.

“It feels like a natural progression for me. We always launched new businesses at Boxpark but now instead of letting them use retail space, I'm actually putting in capital,” he said.