According to a local community blog published in Brixton, London, the local version of the “container village” hasn’t paid any rent to the Lambeth Council for 5 years.

“Pop Brixton” was used as a paradigm when the York Spark owners were trying to persuade the York Council and its planning committee that siting shipping containers in a conservation area was a good idea.

Like Brixton, the operators offered to rent the Piccadilly site from the Council and to share in the ventures profits.

An FOI response to the “Brixton Buzz“ has revealed that a similar deal there produced no income for the local authority.

Now, like in York, monthly rental payments are being sought by Lambeth Council.

A Freedom of Information request was submitted to the York Council on 25th August asking the authority to confirm that the terms of a new lease – agreed in February – have been fulfilled by the site occupiers.

Spark operated on a “tenancy at will” basis earlier in the summer following its closure during the health crisis. Its original lease expired on 1st July 2020