News / Hamilton House
Peaceful protest to save Hamilton House
Orange and grey clad protesters will turn out on Wednesday evening in a demonstration against what they fear could be the seizure of Hamilton House by profiteers.
Uncertainty has been hanging over the much-loved Stokes Croft building for well over a year now as owners Connolly & Callaghan (C&C) seek to redevelop part of the premises – a move they say is necessary in order to carry out essential modernisation work.
But the shock news that the company will not be offering a lease to Coexist, the long-term custodians of Hamilton House, sparked further concerns that the arts space will be placed in the hands of people who might put profit over community.
is needed now More than ever
The Save Hamilton House campaign group is mobilising people to make their voices heard and has organised a public demonstration, to be held at 5.30pm on Wednesday (September 26). They are calling on C&C to come back to the negotiating table with Coexist.
“We’ve already seen one third of the building evicted in March 2018 and rents increased by 400 per cent,” said the group’s Laurie Blackburn.
“Reluctantly, the community agreed to this in a compromise to save the rest of Hamilton House. Now C&C have moved the goal posts again and threatening to evict Coexist – who have built this community over the last ten years.
“Our concerns are that C&C will replace Coexist with a new company, who will kick out the less profitable artist tenants and creative enterprises with a view to commercialising the space. C&C have talked about “sweating their asset” to get the most rent out of tenants. We’re not assets to be sweated, we’re people.
“We are artists, dancers, entrepreneurs, activists, theatre-makers, festival organisers, charities, teachers, start-ups, poets, incubators, music producers and more.
“Financed proposals have been put to C&C to sell the building as a Community Land Trust. This would secure Hamilton House’s future for community benefit instead of an asset for property developers to speculate on.”
The demonstration will be a creative, family-friendly event, harnessing the ethos and values of Coexist, and calling for a cooperative solution.
People on the demonstration will be wearing orange to symbolise the colour and creativity of Hamilton House community at present, and grey – as a warning of the bland, commercial future that it might face.
Read more: ‘Speak out to save Hamilton House’
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