31 March 2026
Community prevents Ridley Road Shopping Village closure and occupies building in support of traders
An attempt to close the Ridley Road Shopping Village was prevented on 31 March as Hackney community groups prevented security from shuttering the building.
Around 100 local community members offered support to traders, who had been given only six weeks’ notice of the non-renewal of their leases.
After the arrival of security on site, local groups including the Hackney branch of the London Renters Union refused to leave the premises. Police in attendance declared the occupation a civil matter and declined to intervene.
The occupation comes after eight years of uncertainty about the future of the Shopping Village, including an earlier eviction attempt in 2018, and repeated planning applications for redevelopment. In mid-February, landlord Larochette, a property developer based in the Virgin Islands, informed traders of the impending closure.
Around half of the building’s 13 traders had been given verbal promises of a right to return, but no firm dates or legally binding commitments. Other traders were told that they would not be accepted back into the building, due to cautions or charges relating to a police raid in August 2023.
We have been pushing for Hackney Council to renew a 2022 commitment to take over the lease of the Shopping Village in order to secure the building’s future. Most traders in the Shopping Village are West African and Caribbean – they feel like they’re being disrespected and profiled. They also feel betrayed by Hackney Council. The fact that groups from across Hackney came together spontaneously today to prevent the closure just shows how high feeling is running. Collective evictions were never the solution – this issue is just going to escalate unless the landlord reverses course.
27 March 2026
JOIN US TO PROTEST THE CLOSURE OF THE SHOPPING VILLAGE
The Ridley Road Shopping Village will be shuttered at the end of trading at 5 p.m. Tuesday 31 March. Thirteen traders will lose their businesses. They’ve been given 6 weeks’ notice, zero respect, and no firm promises about their future.
Join us between 4pm and 5.30pm on Tuesday 31 March. We need to support traders and make a collective statement that THIS IS NOT THE END.
The Shopping Village is a key part of Ridley Road, which is the nongentrified heart of Hackney. A sanctuary for all of Hackney’s migrant and lower-income communities.
The affected traders are mostly West African and Caribbean, and they have already suffered years of economic neglect, bullying and overpolicing.
The struggle to keep the Shopping Village has been ongoing since 2018.
Hackney Council needs to step in and honour their promise to provide traders with a secure environment in which to run their businesses.
See you there!
17 March 2026
Public Meeting at Ridley Road Market Bar
Please support the Ridley Road indoor market traders !
Traders in Ridley Road Indoor Shopping Village have been told they’ll be evicted on 31 March. The Council is treating this as if it were an inevitability.
We HAVE to get Hackney Council to listen. Take 2 minutes to build some pressure. Send Mayor Caroline Woodley a version of the template letter here.
This is a key moment for the future of Ridley Road. Be involved. Send the email, share the video, help us get word out across Hackney, join us at the public meeting. Don’t let the Council and Larochette think that no one is paying attention.
For more information, read traders’ open letter to Hackney Council, the landlord and Hackney Police below.
Join us at the Ridley Road Market Bar, 5 p.m., Tues 17 March for the public meeting.
22 February 2026
Traders in Ridley Road Shopping Village once again threatened with eviction by offshore landlord
Traders who have been fighting against eviction for almost a decade have been ordered to leave their premises once again.
After receiving unlawful eviction orders for the first time in October 2018, a vibrant community campaign forced landlord Larochette to back down.[1]
But now, a new notice to quit has been issued, stating that the market will close on 31 March 2026 and that evicted traders will not be offered new leases.
This latest attempted eviction flies in the face of a landmark 2022 agreement between Larochette and Hackney Council, in which the latter agreed to take over the lease of the Shopping Village for fifteen years, safeguarding ‘a much loved indoor market … for the long term’, as part of the Council’s wider commitment to protect Ridley Road.[1] Since then, Larochette, which owns a number of commercial properties in Dalston, has failed to complete agreed refurbishments.
As in 2018, Larochette’s letter to traders justifies the closure with reference to orders from the Metropolitan Police. The police dispute this version of events. In correspondence with Dalston Councillor Zoё Garbett, they state: ‘The wording used by Larochette in their press release is inaccurate. We have not requested the closure of the Indoor Market space and have not issued a closure order’.
This is a complete re-run of the brutal and unlawful attempted evictions in 2018. The traders in Ridley Road have fought for years to keep their businesses going in the most challenging circumstances. They are a vital community, a centre for Black business and culture in Hackney. They deserve thanks and support. Instead they’re being treated like criminals by a landlord that has no interest in the social fabric of the area.
Successful, community-led regeneration is possible with the will and imagination, as we see from Seven Sisters Indoor Market and across London. Larochette have proved incapable of behaving with legal or social responsibility to their tenants. Hackney Council need to step up, intervene and get the 2022 agreement back on track and Mayor Woodley should be taking personal responsibility.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fW9VccX_GM
April 2025
Ridley Road Shopping Village traders have moved into the refurbished units!
2nd phase of the refurbishment of the ground floor has not yet begun.
31 August 2024
Writing objections on Ridley Road Market
Planning was not been granted for Ridley Road Shopping Village’s second floor conversion to unaffordable studio flats!
December 2024
Save Ridley Road 2018-2023 resistance timeline
21 July 2023
Police raid on 21 July 2023 in the Indoor Market leaves Traders intimidated and in shock! Still, traders keep their businesses going in spite of prolonged building works
26 July 2023 – Save Ridley Road’s Press Release
Urgent questions after massive police raid on Ridley Road Shopping Village
At 4 p.m., Friday 21 July, police conducted a large raid of Ridley Road Shopping Village, handcuffing and searching traders and customers and confiscating large sums of money. Traders report a minimum of 50 officers were involved in the operation, making it one of the largest to take place on Ridley Road in recent memory. The search of their shops and storage spaces continued for four hours. Police confiscated small quantities of cannabis, but also traders’ phones, laptops and money, including rent money due to the Shopping Village landlord the next day. One trader had a piggy bank of small change that he used to save for holidays confiscated. Arrested traders were given no receipts for money and goods taken by police, and have been told to report back to Stoke Newington Police Station in October. They report that the attending officers stated that Hackney Council has been pushing for the raid ‘since March’.
Concerns about the background to the raid
The police raid comes at an important moment for the Shopping Village. Hackney Council is soon to take over the lease for the ground floor retail units. It is currently debating with traders the terms on which they will rent their shops from the Council. Local campaign groups have raised questions about the timing of the raid and the manner in which it was conducted. Save Ridley Road member Danny Hayward said,
“The suggestion that the Council has been pushing for a major police intervention in the Shopping Village is alarming. This needs to be seen in the context of its attempt to get traders who have been trading there for many years, to give up their existing rights and accept licences with no security of tenure and 250 regulations controlling the conduct of their businesses. At best it is bad timing; at worst it is a form of harassment. The Council need to clarify their role in the raid, and Hackney police need to disclose the terms of their application for a search warrant and provide traders with receipts for all money and goods that have been confiscated.”
One of the traders described their treatment as “intimidating, disrespectful and traumatising”.
29 June 2023
Hackney Council met with Save Ridley Road and traders.
It presented 250 regulations for future trading in the Shopping Village. The traders object to lack of security of tenure, no-fault evictions, future rent rises of 80% and no say in the designs of the shops and when, what and how goods are sold there.
26 August 2022
Larochette requires traders to vacate the building entirely within 4 days. Save Ridley Road and traders again resist the evictions. After public protest Larochette provides temporary shops at 50% rent whilst refurbishments continue.
26 August 2022
Watch ‘Ridley Road Shopping Village – Traders fight for their livelihoods’
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25 August 2022: Ridley Road Shopping Village Traders speak to Diane Abbott MP about situation with Hackney Council
We are asking for
#1 ALL EXISTING TRADERS TO HAVE PRIORITY IN SELECTING UNITS IN REFURBISHED SHOPPING VILLAGE
#2 LEASES AND NOT LICENSES
#3 RENTS NOT LINKED TO CPI INDEX
#4 CONSULTATIONS WITH CURRENT TRADERS.
20 August 2022: Protest & Solidarity with Ridley Road Shopping Village Traders
OPEN Dalston clearly lays out what has happened so far, published on 17 AUGUST 2022:
Ridley Road Shopping Village traders given 4 days to get out
Ridley Road Shopping Village traders were shocked and dismayed today to learn that their off-shore landlord, Larochette Real Estate Inc., requires them to vacate their shops in the covered market by Saturday 20th August. None of them have anywhere else to continue their businesses, store their stock or earn a living.
READ MORE… on OPEN DALSTON
Hackney Gazette reported on 17 AUGUST 2022:
Left in limbo – traders face silence as lease deadline looms
Traders whose leases end on Saturday are fearful of an uncertain future ahead of refurbishment works.
Traders at Ridley Road Shopping Village, Dalston, have previously been told that they will face “no significant disturbance” while the site is refurbished.
Earlier this year they were given notices to leave by August 20 by Larochette Real Estate Inc, with the council, which will ultimately take on the shopping centre, saying they will be given new leases in the units being created.
No new leases have yet appeared.
With work due to begin on Saturday, traders say they do not know what is happening.
READ MORE…here
13 June 2022
Larochette has given notice to the traders that they must vacate their shops by 20 August when the ground floor refurbishments would begin, but that alternative accommodation would be provided elsewhere.
28 February 2022
After 12 years of affordable studios, the Shopping Village 60 artists were evicted as refurbishment of the1st & 2nd floors begins. After 22 months, refurbishment is still ongoing.
24 January 2022
Hackney Council’s Cabinet has decided that, once the landlord refurbished Ridley Road Shopping Village, it would take a long lease for profit-rentals to traders and market storage and for use as its Market Services offices.
20 October 2021
Save Ridley Road protest with Morning Lane People’s Space
Outside the Town Hall council meeting, Save Ridley Road and Morning Lane People’s Space protest against developers profiteering at the expense of residents needs for social housing, affordable shops, markets and community spaces
20 August 2020 – First screening of Ridley Road 2020 – A Market Under Threat on Ridley Road
19 December 2019
The Council grant community application for the ShoppingVillage to be declared an ACV (Asset of Community Value) because of its social and cultural beneficial uses by traders and artists, open space and market storage.
2 June 2019
We, the Save Ridley Road campaign, are raising alarm over the potential impact of Hackney Council’s Dalston Plan on the viability of Ridley Road market.
Plans to build almost 500 new residences on the site of the Kingsland Road Shopping Centre will irrevocably alter the character of Dalston as a whole. This would be the equivalent of a whole new Dalston Square dropped onto the existing shopping centre on Kingsland Road.
Recent history shows that no matter what Hackney Council says, these will be overwhelmingly luxury flats for private sale. The knock-on effect on Ridley Road next door will be counted in demographic shifts, noise complaints and further private development on Ridley Road itself – and already the Council is saying it wants to ‘design out’ crime and install dozens of new CCTV cameras on the market.
Simply put, this is gentrification in action.
The Dalston Plan* includes a commitment to “Maintain and improve Ridley Road market and its character”. Campaigners say that the Plan characterises the market using vague and negative statements, and fails to take account of the impact on the market of large-scale private development in its immediate vicinity. We are calling for a more constructive approach, which focuses on listening to existing traders and market users, providing funding for local business initiatives, and building more homes for social rent.
Support Ridley Road – take part in Hackney Council’s consultation on the ‘Dalston Plan’ which closes on 30/08/21!
5 May 2019
Have you watched our short campaign film?
Film by Alfredo Broccolo. Music by Bill and Adam Parry-Davies. First screened on 5th May at Rio Cinema
Under The Cranes – a benefit for #SaveRidleyRoad
On Sunday 5th May at 3.45pm the Rio Cinema will be screening “Under the Cranes” Book now to avoid disappointment – it sold out last time !
The film has been described as “a polyphonic meditation on time and urban space – a joyous wonder, an instant addition to the modern canon of filmic London” and a “marvellous evocation of Hackney – the place, the peoples and their dreams too”. Filmed on location in Hackney, and with rare archive footage, the film is a collaboration between the poet Michael Rosen and the film maker Emma-Louise Williams. Michael and Emma will be at the Rio to talk about the film and their own experiences of the changing face of Hackney. The Rio is screening the film to help raise funds for the #SaveRidleyRoad campaign. Our street market is increasingly at risk from “regeneration”, gentrification and social cleansing. Rocketing land values and rents threaten the sustainability of Ridley Road’s small businesses, street traders, artists and artisans and threaten the affordability of its produce on which so many Hackney families depend.
30 March 2019
Save Ridley Road held a community festival in Gillett Square, when 149 objections to Larochette’s redevelopment plans were made collectively.
Saturday the 30th March saw a celebration of community spirit for Ridley Market in the spring sunshine!
In the largest event to date organised by Save Ridley Road, local people of all ages congregated in Gillett Square, joining together to paint signs, enjoy delicious vegan food, and experience the many performances from local poets, musicians and activists fighting for the heart, soul, and spirit of street market life in Dalston.
We would very much like to thank all those who turned out, in recognition of the threats posed by developers who want to carve up the incredible history and heritage of the market.
The event kicked off at Midday with music and sign painting. Slogans rustled up by children in attendance included:
‘Love and Unity, Stop Selling Our Market’, ‘I Love Food I Can Afford’ and ‘ARRESTED DEVELOPERS’.
These were soon pasted up all over the square every which way. Meanwhile, lining Gillett Square was an exhibition of fantastic large format illustrations of Ridley Road by Lucinda Rogers.
After weeks of cold rain, Hackney stalwart Ray Carless’ solo sax performance basked in sunshine, as attendees tucked into free vegan food served up by Food Not Bombs, using unsold ingredients that were provided by local grocers and shopkeepers.
Sympathetic community groups brought inspiration and solidarity to the fore, including passionate contributions from Save the Britannia Leisure Centre, Up the Elephant, Save Latin Village and Open Dalston, and a recorded message from Shopping Village trader Asli. Poetry by Bill Parry Davis, Tim Wells, Paula Varjack and Sam Berkson raised our hearts in opposition to the forces that seek to displace us.
Finally the event was brought to a close with a bang(er) by the amazing StephRefresh and EverythingZEZE, which included Steph’s moving poem about growing up in Hackney and the people who have given the borough its life.
Throughout the afternoon, and amongst a hive of activity, attendees queued for a seat at our objections table, eager to put pen to paper and voice their concerns to Hackney Council about the proposed development of the Indoor Shopping Village.
Over 150 objections were collected by the end of the day!
Thank you to everyone who dedicated their time to due process.
We proved that community consultations don’t have to be DRY and EXCLUSIVE — done right they can be a pleasure. In Hackney public opinions is fervently against developers tearing up our communities by the roots.
We hope Hackney’s planning team have as good a time reading the objections as everyone had writing them!
Save Ridley Road send out a big thanks to all the participants, the Cleaners & Allied Independent Workers Union (CAIWU) for lending us their Loudspeaker of the People, and HCD for helping us to set up at Gillett Square.
Property developers might own Hackney, but it’s the people who live here who’ll reshape it. Stay tuned for the next event!
5 December 2018
COMMUNITY MEETING
There was an incredibly successful community meeting held on 5th December.
It was a great show of solidarity and was empowering to hear so many diverse voices at the meeting.
It really feels like the wider community supports the traders in the Market Village, and understands the wider threat to the rest of the market.
WE REACHED THE FUNDRAISING TARGET!!!
Thank you to everyone that rallied around and helped us reach our target for the legal fighting fund! This is massive and will be a great relief to the traders in the coming weeks as they continue to be pressured to sign new leases with unfavorable terms.
We are continuing to fundraise past this initial target, so please continue to share the Crowd Justice link with your friends, family, councilors and colleagues.
Crowdjustice for the Save the Ridley Road Shopping Village traders from eviction!
ESSENTIAL READING:
This is a fantastic article by Danny Hayward who has been an integral part of the campaign and really is recommended reading for anyone worries about development within our community and the coming challenges.
“A fight over the future of the market is now inevitable. On the one hand, we have an assortment of independent traders, part-time workers, homeless people and artists, along with the enormous constituency of people who go to the market to shop, socialize or wander. On the other, we have a group of savvy mid-size property developers with large East London holdings and a track record of marketing flats to right-to-buy landlords and international investors.”
Save Ridley Road – how the community is fighting back against faceless developers
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:
Rainbow have chosen and sent in an “independent” solicitor today, along with one of their property managers and George Albert who was the previous manager at the time the tenants were given two weeks to leave.
The Rainbow/La Rochette representatives attempted to bully traders into signing a new contract despite many of them having instructed their own solicitor to negotiate with the landlords’ solicitor.
They were presented with a THIRD new contract and asked to sign on the spot. Traders who asked for a copy to consider the terms in their own time were told that there were not sufficient copies to leave them with one.
This is completely unacceptable and underhanded behaviour, and it is this type of practice that the fighting fund will help to address so please continue to share and donate!
October 2018
Save Ridley Road has been formed – with traders, artists, local residents – and successfully resisted the evictions and negotiated terms to remain!
Protests on Ridley Road & Rainbow’s offices
About Ridley Road Shopping Village
Asli sells high street brands at outlet prices, Barry sources handmade African bags, dresses and jewellery, Mr Clarks sells the latest Clarks shoes, Fatmata has lovely curtains and bedding, Errol sells a collection of West African Vinyl, Wes and Simeon sell CDs and DVDs, Iziz has a range of street wear on offer and Elie has everything you need to make a house a home…
With many of their neighbours having already left* through a sustained period of wilful neglect and threatening letters these traders need you now more than ever. Get in there and show these businesses how much their community needs them!
*Gurdeepak was there for all your massage and herbal medicine needs, and Chris run Raffles jewellers
The Development: Planning Application – 2017/2897
Exclusive, Expensive, Unaffordable, and Divisive
The planning application was amended on 27 November 2019 and would, in summary, now involve:
- the loss of 39 of the 60 units for small independent traders on the ground floor, with space lost being used to service the proposed offices and flats on the upper floors
- the loss of 50% of the basement’s market storage, with the remainder to be offices
- conversion of the 2 upper floors to “high standard” offices with only 10% to be affordable
- a new 3rd storey for 1×2-bed and 4×3-bed “very high standard” luxury flats.
- landscaping, instead of extending the building onto, its forecourt’s open space.
As of December 2019, the Shopping Village is defined by Hackney Council as an Asset of Community Value. The proposed development would completely undermine its existing uses as an affordable retail outlet and artists’ studio space.
It would also involve massive rent hikes and evictions, with negative consequences for the black and minority business owners on the ground floor. The application should be assessed under the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.
- Shopping Village purchased in 2016 for £6.5m
- New majority owner is Larochette, headquartered in the British Virgin Islands tax haven.
- Larochette is connected to Ziser, a UK property business with significant East London holdings.
- The development is now managed by Rainbow Properties, a property management company based in West Hampstead.
The proposal is to EVICT all current tenants.
Current uses:
Basement:
Storage consisting of around 50 units, these are all full and are used on a daily basis by traders in the Indoor market, traders in the outdoor market and the very small shops that line the sides of the market. If this facility is removed it will affect the retail amenity of the street as a whole and compromise the market.
Ground Floor:
Consists of around 50 retail and storage units which are rented by the smallest of independent businesses. Some of these businesses have been resident since 1984 and are an intrinsic part of the Ridley Road and wider Dalston community. Again, the storage units are used by the wider outdoor market, as well as the smaller shops flanking the market who have historically depended upon this facility to operate.
First Floor:
The first and second floors are currently occupied by SIXTY artists and makers who have been in the space for the past 12 years. They are intrinsic to the character of the area, and rent studio spaces that they come to every day. Dalston’s reputation as an artistic and cultural centre is in part attributable to the smaller affordable spaces such as these which allow artists to create and contribute within an urban environment.
Second Floor:
The second and first floors are currently occupied by SIXTY artists and makers who have been in the space for the past 12 years. They are intrinsic to the character of the area, and rent studio spaces that they come to every day. Dalston’s reputation as an artistic and cultural centre is in part attributable to the smaller affordable spaces such as these which allow artists to create and contribute within an urban environment.
Third Floor:
The development is currently only two stories high, it is not out of place on the market and does not overshadow the market.
11 October 2018
The Shopping Village management company claimed there was a police Closure Order and gave traders 14 days to get out. In fact, the police had only required improved security.
27 April 2018
Larochette applied to Hackney Council for permission to demolish and redevelop the Shopping Village as shops, offices and 10 luxury flats. It claimed the building was unoccupied, although 25 traders and 60 artists were working there.
4 November 2016
Larochette Real Estate Inc., an off-shore company registered in the secretive British Virgin Islands tax haven, purchased the Ridley Road Shopping Village building for £6.5 million.
Save Ridley Road 