Changes

Peckham has recently come above the radar in London as the latest artistic and creative [http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/peckhamania-out-on-the-town-in-londons-newest-hotspot-8739833.html ‘hotspot’]. This has long roots but no one has yet studied this in the depth of the LSE street commerce research. But it has been obvious to locals operating at street level for several years that there was immense potential for the creative industries to take off in central Peckham. This is partly because there is a [[Transforming_Central_Rye_Lane|cluster of large sites in central Rye Lane]] where for more than two decades the artistic community has occupied some low cost spaces in Blenheim Court the railway arches behind Peckham Rye station, and across the road in the large Victorian factory, that locals have named the Bussey building. The Bussey and adjoining Copeland Park have now shown how the potential can be realised by providing spaces for a wide variety of performance arts, and for a variety of studios, workshops and venue spaces. Meanwhile the Arches Studios in Blenheim Court continue to thrive as a well integrated collective of independent artisans’ workshops, and Bar Story pioneered the use of the railway arches behind the station for a bar, restaurant and art gallery.

===‘Hotspot’ origins===