Today we’re stepping the Camdenist Culture Campaign up a fair few gears – by proposing something a little bit special, and potentially quite exceptional.

We’re unveiling a plan that would open a new cultural hub in a historic local building, and offer cutting edge entertainment, jobs and a youth media training programme, all with an eye firmly on Camden’s future.

As many of you will have followed for over more than decade, there’s a long-standing planning condition to bring a boutique cinema to the historic former Polytechnic assembly hall in the heart of Kentish Town.

But over the years the turbulent fate of the building, the impact of Covid/cost-of-living and the changing tastes of a digitally-mainlined public have meant no operator has been willing to take on the perennially vacant space. Camdenist did manage to successfully bring the place alive for the community late last year with our pop-up poster sale and film competition screenings, but otherwise it still sits there in its prime spot, sad and empty.

Last week the building’s owners, locally-based developer Vabel, finally gave up the cinema search and submitted an application for change of use. Local groups, who have been ceaselessly vocal about the need to honour the cinema promise, are already inevitably planning to object.

However this may not be necessary.

Just a couple of minutes walk due north of the Poly building lies the Regis Road Industrial Estate. This is where Yoo Capital, the firm currently completing the £1.3bn reinvention of Olympia, plan to establish the Camden Film Quarter as their next big London project.

At the latest consultation last week, further details of the ambitious proposals were displayed, presenting what is basically a whole new NW5 neighbourhood, including sprawling Pinewood-meets-Netflix style film studio facilities and up to 1,000 new homes.

With any new development, councils charge a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to the developer, often running into many millions, from which they can fund improvements to the local area ranging from new road layouts to school-building – it’s a decent pot from which to deliver whatever the local councillors feel is most important.

Often the allocation of this money is fairly mysterious, as it can be spent over many years on multiple bits of various things. So, here’s our suggestion. Why not allocate some of the inevitably huge CIL funds coming down the track from the Camden Film Quarter to delivering not simply the long-awaited but impossible cinema, but a wider cultural hub that’s fit for purpose in the modern era - a flexible event space with a youth programme that would feed neatly into other ambitions for the Film Quarter once it is up and running?

We put it to the Council here in today’s newsletter: how about it? Why not commit the CFQ’s CIL to the creation of a genuinely innovative, independent cultural space for the local community? Camdenist already has a fully-costed plan, and the people who can make it happen. All we need is the funding to secure the purchase and development of this iconic local building, before it is too late.

There’s more, too. Directly opposite the former Poly is an actual defunct 1920s cinema, owned by the Council. While this building has a long-term future as Camden’s first ‘Neighbourhood Space’ – an affordable workspace initiative that’s due to go live in 2026 – there has been some excitement that the recently uncovered art deco upper circle tier might also be returned to its original use.

However, with cinema as a medium suffering what many are calling ‘an existential crisis’ at the moment, a dedicated space here makes even less sense, particularly if local residents also object to the change of use of the Poly, let alone the fact there are also the railway arch screens of the nearby Curzon at Hawley Wharf.

It would be far better for a joined-up plan to incorporate the new workspace into the cultural hub operations we propose over the road, and establish a creative powerhouse at the gateway to Camden’s new movie-making district, right?

At this new dawn of local and national political change, with Kentish Town’s very own MP installed at Number 10, plus the clock now ticking on the future of the beloved Polytechnic assembly hall, and decisions around the Camden Film Quarter as yet unmade, there really could not be a better moment to make a bold move like this.

What do you think?

We make no excuses for knowing little about how the CIL system works. That’s the Council’s role, but we certainly hope to influence it and bring the community on the journey with us. Camdenist has always had the intention of ‘bringing the pages of a local magazine alive’ as a route to finding a sustainable model for this kind of media in the long term, so we’d be only too pleased to turn these ideas into reality.

We’ll bring you part two of this story next week. Meanwhile, we await feedback on the ideas from anyone and everyone. ⬇️

📊This week’s 1-click Poll

We’d love to gauge enthusiasm for what we’re suggesting, so do please click one of the options above before you read on, and leave any thoughts or comments in the box that appears after you vote, too. Thanks 🙂

PEOPLE

🎬 New breed film-making is already going on right here

Following a recent screening of a collection of his short films at the iconic Prince Charles Cinema off Leicester Square, we’ve been speaking to director Will Thomas Freeman about his work in this week’s interview feature.

He tells us how lockdown led to an unlikely partnership and the development of a unique approach to helping aspiring actors get movie-making experience.

The way he’s addressing the changing face of acting, film-making and technology points the way for the future of screen-based creativity which feels particularly pertinent.

FESTIVALS

🎨 Camden Biennale paints the bigger picture

An ambitious new pilot festival celebrating the artistic talent of the Borough’s school students kicked off for a week-long run yesterday, running through until July 17th. Camden Biennale showcases hundreds of artworks made by students representing every school and every stage of learning in a free exhibition, plus there’s a programme of free events too.

The aim is to open students’ eyes to the possibilities of a career in art, design and creative practice while positioning Camden as a prestigious centre for arts education in the UK. To that end, the inaugural edition’s events take place in the Lethaby Gallery at Central Saint Martins, located in the fabulous Granary Building in the heart of the King’s Cross development.

We heard local Councilor Marcus Boyland announce the event excitedly at Impact Hub Euston the other day, where he expressed the aspiration for the Biennale to become a sister event to the already-huge Camden School Music Festival, which runs every two years at the Royal Albert Hall with an audience of 3,000, and 14,000 global viewers on the live-stream last year, too!

🎷 The always-epic Somers Town Festival presents four free live music stages, fairground rides, food stalls, history walks and masses more all day Saturday July 13th, with attractions stretching from the plaza at the British Library right up Chalton St and beyond.

💃🏼 It’s the 30th year of Camden Mela over at Coram’s Fields on Sunday 14th, with the sights, sounds and flavours of the Borough’s South Asian community ready to be enjoyed by thousands of visitors of all ages.

🍸 You’ll find 20 pop-up bars at Cocktails in the City tonight and tomorrow (12th & 13th July) in the lovely private Georgian Bedford Square Garden. Tickets include your first cocktail and access to masterclasses, plus there’s live music and a selection of quality street food at the first of a trio of three-day monthly sessions taking place this summer.

🌈 Slightly further afield, Ally Pally’s Kaleidoscope festival returns (Sat 13th) after last year’s shock 11th hour cancellation due to crazy winds, boasting live music from the likes of Soul II Soul and The Go! Team to DJs, a dedicated fringe comedy stage and all the usual food trucks, family-friendly attractions and more in the lovely grounds of the Palace.

⚽ Limber up for England v Spain in the evening at Sunday’s Give It A Go festival at Parliament Hill Bandstand, where you can try a range from sports such as rugby, fencing, tennis or athletics to more sedate occupations such as bowls or healthy walks.

⛔ A car-free Camden High Street?

The pavements of Camden Town can often get clogged with the sheer weight of human traffic, particularly on the section up from the tube past Buck St and Inverness St markets. Which is one of the reasons why the Council have just unveiled a proposal to make it motor traffic-free for an 18 month trial period. It should make the area safer and healthier for those walking and cycling, but what do ‘motorists’ think? Read the consultation and have your say here.

STAGE

MUSIC

🎸From metal to country, it’s all out there

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