Hackney Wick businesses lament ‘ghost town’ Olympics

Tom Seaton and his sister Jess, the owners of the Counter Cafe

Pioneering traders in the onetime wasteland of Hackney Wick and Fish Island have warned that the Olympics have failed to deliver an eagerly anticipated boost to business.

The area, branded HWFI by the artists who make up a large contingent of its locals, was until recently regarded as a post-industrial backwater.

Now it has been elevated among aficionados of the borough to the position of the Hackney’s best kept secret; it is viewed as a calmer alternative to the frenetic scene in Dalston and Shoreditch.

Bars, restaurants and even a popular brewery and a theatre opened in advance of the Games, which took place just across the Lea Navigation.

But while most of these businesses are confident that the area has a bright future, some have complained about the dearth of visitors during the Games.

Diego Ghymers, co-owner of the Hackney Cut eatery in Roach Road, said: “Everyone was told that the Olympics were going to be a great opportunity, and the two weeks when the Olympics were on were actually the quietest weeks ever.

“People have made big investments and it turned out to be a complete disaster. We’re having some meetings at the moment with the council. Some people in the council are actually very upset because they’ve been misinformed by the Olympic authorities.

“We were told the area would be completely collapsed with people. We were expecting 60,000 people a day walking down this street, and it turned out to be empty.”

One of the most enthusiastic of these investors has been Lance Forman, proprietor of H Forman and Sons, who transformed his premises’ car park into a ‘riviera’ where visitors could play beach volleyball and take in the breathtaking sights of the illuminated Olympic Stadium and wacky Orbital tower by night.

Speaking shortly before the closing ceremony Mr Forman said: “In terms of the medals, it’s been brilliant, but London should not be a ghost town during the Olympics. It should be a massive celebration for 17 days.
“It’s been getting busier and busier each day, but it certainly hasn’t delivered what it should have.”

Tom Seaton, the 31-year-old co-owner of a number of businesses in the area including The Counter Café and the Crate Brewery, claimed that rents had gone up dramatically.

He said: “It’s a double edged sword. In some ways it’s good because we’re busier, but the rents are double what they were. We were paying £500 a month when we first opened [around four years ago]. The big question is, is it good for the area? I suppose my answer would be no, really. I preferred it the way it was before.”

Mr Seaton said he believed the area would be just as up-and-coming now even if the Olympics had never happened.

But he said the profile of HWFI would continue to rise because of its relatively central location and good transport links.

“The reality is this area’s going to be connected up like anywhere else in London,” he said. “We’re in Zone Two. There’s a fantastic infrastructure in Stratford. The best connected station in the entire country is how some people have described it.”

Big developments set to create thousands more new homes are planned, a phenomenon that will also change the neighbourhood.

A satirical article in The Wick newspaper referred to the area being renamed “The Hackney Candle” by developers “because wicks burn out”.

Even young families are now settling in this most geographically marginal of Hackney’s wards, which New Zealander Mr Seaton jokingly remarked was full of “tumbleweed” when he first moved there around a decade ago.

“The first one or two years I don’t think we ever had anyone with a pram come in here,” he said. “It’s amazing how much things have changed.”