Last store standing: All shops apart from one at £100million luxury outlet in Hackney close down

• Hackney Luxury Shopping Outlet opened in 2017 and got £1.5m from City Hall 
• But all bar one of the designer outlets have shut down since business dwindled

A £100million designer shopping outlet in Hackney has seen all but one of the shops close down as business dwindled. 

Billed as London’s first luxury shopping outlet, Hackney Walk was given £1.5million from City Hall under then-mayor Boris Johnson in 2011, in an attempt to rival the likes of Oxfordshire’s Bicester Village.

It launched in 2017 with 14 high-end shops, including bespoke men’s tailor Gieves and Hawkes and the Nike Factory – which shut in October. 

Lab C-Estate Ltd, the leaseholder for the units, is in liquidation while the owner The Arch Company claimed to be working to ‘regain control’.

The hopes for the outlet have been dashed as just one store remains, Present – which sells designer outerwear from C.P. Company, Stone Island and Woolrich. 

A £100million designer shopping outlet in Hackney has seen all but one of the shops close down as business dwindled

Billed as London’s first luxury shopping outlet, Hackney Walk was given £1.5million from City Hall under Boris Johnson in an attempt to rival the likes of Oxfordshire’s Bicester Village

It launched in 2017 with 14 high-end shops, including the Nike Factory, which shut in October, and Gieves and Hawkes – a bespoke men’s tailor

Laura Mival (pictured), a producer who lives in Hackney, said the outlet is on the outskirts and doesn’t get much foot traffic

A council spokesman said the complex needs to be restored and back up and running for the benefit of the Hackney community.

Nick Perry, secretary of the Hackney Society Planning Group, told the BBC the appeal from locals was that the outlet would bring lots of job opportunities to the London borough.

READ MORE: Saturdays are back on top for shoppers: John Lewis reveals some stores are now as busy as the 1990s on weekends in much-needed boost for retail sector 

‘It was never really about them going into Gieves and Hawkes. Kids around here don’t wear that.’

He added that two of the units are boarded up as they have been ‘ram-raided twice, because they did have stuff that was attractive but not that anybody could afford to pay for.’

Many doors underneath the train archways are boarded up and graffiti has been sprayed across the site.

Looking through the windows of the abandoned outlets the rooms appear bare and purposeless, with very few people walking by.

Shay, who works at the last shop standing, partially blames Covid-19 for the closure of shops across the outlet.

She said: ‘Most of the shops closed just after Covid. There were three or four that stayed afterwards but they have all closed now.

‘Before Covid it was busy and the shops were doing well.’

Looking into the future Shay hopes that the empty space is given a purpose again.

She said: ‘It would be good if they make it into a more community based place and use the space to benefit everyone.’

Many Hackney locals have never visited the outlet, with some claiming its location means it goes unnoticed.

Laura Mival, a producer who lives in Hackney, said the outlet is on the outskirts and doesn’t get much foot traffic. 

Lisa Nathan works at The Globe pub in the area and feels that the outlet is not accessible to everyone.

Looking through the windows of the abandoned outlets the rooms appear bare and purposeless, with very few people walking by

The hopes for the outlet have been dashed as just one store remains, Present – which sells designer outerwear from C.P. Company, Stone Island and Woolrich

Nick Perry, secretary of the Hackney Society Planning Group, said the appeal from locals was that the outlet would bring lots of job opportunities to the London borough

She said: ‘The price is too much for Hackney – people don’t want to shop there.

‘There are lots of good shops around that are much cheaper so people don’t need to go. I have been here 51 years and I have never been in and I wouldn’t want to.’

Ms Nathan hopes the space can be used to help the children in the area.

She added: ‘There are a lot of children in this area so it should be put to good use helping children and teenagers. It would be good to do something for them.’

A Council spokesperson said: ‘We share the concerns about the impact the now-empty Hackney Walk units are having on the neighbourhood and wider town centre.

‘The Council does not own or manage these arches, but we have been clear with the owners, The Arch Company, about the need for them to be brought back into use for the benefit of the local community and the wider town centre.

‘We understand that The Arch Company is in the process of regaining control of the arches from the current leaseholders, and we are ready and willing to work with them to ensure any plans brought forward reflect the interests of the community.

The spokesperson added that it recently secured £19million from the government’s levelling up fund for Hackney Central,which will in part be spent on helping bring empty spaces back into use.

Current owners Arch Company added: ‘The current leaseholder Lab C-Estate Ltd is in liquidation. We are working to regain control of the units so that we can bring them back into productive use. We look forward to working with the council to do so.’

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