Dalston traders seek fresh protection for the Ridley Road hall they refuse to leave

Traders at Ridley Road Shopping Village in Dalston have asked for the indoor hall beside the street market to be officially recognised as a community asset. It is the latest step in their fight to stay in the building.

The landlord, Guy Ziser, declined to renew their leases and said the centre would close on 31 March. The traders have remained inside ever since. He said the hall would reopen and that “responsible” traders could come back. Many businesses feared they would be pushed out for good and suspected a plan to sell or redevelop the site. Mr Ziser denies this.

When the closure date came, campaigners stood in the way of the shutters and kept them from coming down. They included members of the Save Ridley Road campaign and the London Renters Union. The traders have kept up what they call a “peaceful occupation”, even after the landlord cut off the lights.

Who owns Ridley Road Shopping Village

The building belongs to Larochette Real Estate, a company based in the Virgin Islands and managed by Rainbow Properties Ltd in the UK. Mr Ziser, Larochette’s director, says it was shut for “community safety reasons” after the Metropolitan Police raised concerns about drug use and supply, violent offences and antisocial behaviour. Police raided the site in August 2023 over drug and knife possession, and several men were arrested.

The Met denies advising that the building should close. It says its warning about crime and antisocial behaviour was “the lowest form of enforcement”.

Asset of community value: how the dispute got here

Larochette paid £6.5 million when it bought the hall in 2016. It has since tried several times to remove the traders, including an eviction attempt in 2018. A plan to knock the hall down and build 10 luxury flats over offices and shops also failed. That scheme led to the Save Ridley Road campaign, whose members included Zoë Garbett, now the mayor of Hackney.

In 2019 a local solicitor secured three-year leases for the traders, and Hackney Council listed the hall as an asset of community value. Under that listing, the hall’s worth to local people has to be weighed whenever the council rules on a planning application for the site. The status lapsed in 2024, and the present dispute has prompted the push to restore it.

In 2021 about 60 artists who rented space upstairs were evicted. In late 2024 the landlord applied to turn the upper floors into eight homes, and the council refused. A 2022 agreement for the council to take over the lease for 15 years depended on the building being refurbished first. That deal has now run out with the work unfinished, although Larochette was legally bound to complete it.