THE DEMOLITION OF HUB 67 COMMUNITY CENTRE

‘THE DEMOLITION OF HUB 67 COMMUNITY CENTRE’ is the sixth in my series of ‘SIX VISIONS OF HACKNEY WICK’. Turning to one of the main roads in the area, which joins the Overground Station to the older creative warehouses, White Post Lane felt like a fitting ending to this series. The Hub 67 Community Centre was built as part of the ‘Olympics Legacy’ for the area, and was originally constructed with materials salvaged during the deconstruction of the Olympics infrastructure just across the canal in the Olympic Park.

Just like the Olympic site itself, the Community Centre also met its end at the sharp end of a construction digger though, and it was when I was walking through the area in late 2023 that I happened to look through the window of Hub 67 and saw the machine tearing the building down from the inside out.

In the background of the picture you’ll see the other side of Hackney Wick though, the bars and clubs that now draw in so many people to the area, all based in the businesses and spirit that developed in the warehouses and studios this area was famous for. With property prices spiralling out of control though, the fate of the buildings that made the area what it is today, such as Hub67, is now in the hands of the property developers, and in the teeth of the mechanical diggers.