#STANDWITHLEN – MUSIC FOR A FIGHTING FUND! PRESS RELEASE.
15th October at Signature Brew E8, 7pm to 11pm! Get your ticket HERE and sign our letter to Sadiq Khan HERE!
JC Motors in Haggerston is a socially trading business run by universally adored local hero Len Maloney. With deep roots in the community operating in Hackney for 30 years Len’s business has links to twelve local schools and colleges providing apprenticeships, work experience and informal mentorship to young people in need of guidance.
East End artists are performing to help stop the forced closure of JC Motors by TfL Subsidiary on 15 October at neighbouring arch Signature Brew E8.
During a meeting last year Places for London (PfL) and the Deputy Mayor for TfL agreed to find an affordable rent level for Len’s vital business. In a devastating u-turn, JC Motors is yet again threatened with imminent closure by PfL, who want JC Motors out of his arch by the end of November. London Assembly member Sem Moema was also present at the meeting has said; “It was my understanding at that meeting that, as requested by Deputy Mayor Seb Dance, a follow-up would be scheduled shortly after to work through the business model of a social value lease, specifically in relation to Len Maloney’s arch. It seems this has got lost in the transfer to PfL; it’s imperative that this is worked through as clearly there is merit in social value and community land trust”
Local artists are coming together with the community for an evening of music and solidarity to draw attention to the unreasonable behaviour of the TfL subsidiary and to raise money for a fighting fund that will enable JC Motors to campaign from a place of security.
The event is taking place on 15th October in collaboration with Signature Brew from 7pm to 11pm. With a lineup reflective of the diverse mashup of the East End, the event is set to be a celebration of community unity and collective resistance to gentrification with a DJ set from special guest Hak Baker! Hak has signed the letter to the Mayor of London from the East End Trades Guild requesting his urgent intervention to stop the displacement of JC Motors and meet with Len and the Guild.
Performing live is Lilith Ai a singer-songwriter and guitarist, whose powerful songs evoke the beauty and the pain of everyday London life with riot grrrl passion. Nicky Knightz carries the torch for alternative hip-hop in the UK with poetic rhymes from her Hackney roots, experiences of dual heritage and the struggles and triumphs of the streets.
“I find myself, my workers, my work experience students and my loyal local customers in a desperate situation due to the heavy-handed actions of my landlord. We must make an effort to keep the small business at the heart of our community. It is an uphill struggle to educate Places for London, a public body that you would think should be supportive, the heavy strain and effort that we carry is unnecessary. I have witnessed many small businesses being wiped out over the years. It is as if there is no empathy, just a blatant chase for money. We must work together to create change with a Community Land Trust as a long-lasting solution so that myself and my neighbours can serve the community from a place of stability. We will continue to fight until the powers that be can see from our side, why social value leases and the Land Trust proposals for our arches are important not just for me and my customers but for all of London’s small businesses providing social purpose and for the communities that value them” Len Maloney, JC Motors.
The East End Trades Guild, an alliance of 400 small businesses of which JC Motors is a member, aims to achieve affordability for Len and other socially trading organisations via proposals in their Manifesto for the New Economy. This includes taking three arches currently home to JC Motors, Tripspace Yoga & Dance and the venue for this event Signature Brew E8 into community ownership for permanently affordable rent.
PfL maintains that Len’s garage is the only one in debt, implying that JC Motors is not a viable business – yet it has paid an average of £43,188 per year in rent to PfL over the last 6 years a total of £259,130. Preliminary research from the New Economics Foundation suggests that there has been a 43% reduction in jobs from garages in areas with Places for London arches over the decade between 2011 and 2021, with a faster rate of job losses in these neighbourhoods than the Inner London average.
This supports what we have seen on the ground – that garages in particular have been eroded and forced to close by market rent increases and a lack of a responsible and affordable rent policy. PfL says they have made “offers of constructive assistance” but all three offers made to Len mean displacement from Hackney and inevitable eventual closure.
In 2016 Richard Enver, co-owner of Dunstan Garage was given the same “offers of constructive assistance.” Richard and his brother Hasan were told to pay market rent or move to a smaller arch. The size of the arch he was forced to move to prevented the business from servicing enough taxis to make the business viable. Tragically under immense stress, Richard shot himself the day after he received the notice to vacate the arch. The arch that Dunstan Garage occupied before its forced closure is currently empty and has been vacant for the last five years.
Len’s neighbours, while not in debt, also feel the strain of the lack of a responsible and affordable rent policy from PfL: “The yearly rent increases are far outpacing the spending ability of the community. In simple terms, rent continues to go up, while our clients find themselves with less disposable income. Despite these financial pressures, we’ve remained steadfast in our mission to bring health and well-being practices to everyone, especially the low-waged and the elderly. But this has come with significant sacrifices. To bridge the ever-widening gap between what it costs to keep our doors open and what our community can afford, we’ve had to take on additional jobs, work exhausting hours, and offer services at little or no cost. These efforts have enabled us to continue supporting the community, but they have come at a personal cost that is not sustainable” Giuliana Majo, Tripspace Director and Physiotherapist.
In the letter from the EETG to the Mayor of London the alliance points out the imbalance of power. “Given that Places for London owns the arches that provide the ‘market evidence’ on rent reviews, we question impartiality, balance and fairness here. When the Guild requested a methodology of how Len’s rent was set against Market Rents the Guild was not sent any market evidence at all. Market evidence is comparable data on nearby arches, without transparency on such data this methodology is meaningless. PfL says they are transparent in publishing their reports to the Land & Property Committee at TfL, but they do not have a public register of their arches’ comparable evidence therefore this particular information is not transparent.”
The Guild is calling for Londoners to take Hak Baker’s lead and sign the letter to Sadiq Khan to help win an urgent meeting with the Mayor before it’s too late: https://eastendtradesguild.org.uk/a-letter-to-the-mayor-of-london
For more information, interviews and photographs please call – 07910 966738 or email: Krissie@eastendtradesguild.org.uk