Thursday, February 07, 2013

Utrophia - last few days? (or maybe not)

Utrophia has been running as an art space in the old Job Centre in Deptford High Street since July 2011 (for a short period before that the building was squatted as Deptford Social Centre Plus).  Utrophia has been expecting to close some time soon to make way for a planned new pub, provisionally called The Job Centre, and run by Antic London. But at the moment things are in a state of flux, so it may or may not be there a little while longer...

Matt Rigsby Smith from Utrophia has been selling off many of his possessions in a temporary shop there, 'Matt's Cool Things'. There's vinyl, comics, badges, badminton racquets and much more... and probably not much time left to buy it. The shop will be open tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, 12 noon to 6 pm, with a planned shop closing party on the 16th February. 


Utrophia, who were previously based on Tanners Hill, are looking around for other possible sites locally. Meanwhile no date has been set for the opening of the pub, and some have questioned what's up with Antic. There are actually a number of different companies under the Antic brand, two of which have gone into administration in the last year  - The Black Ant Company and Antic Ltd. The latter's pubs, including The Royal Albert (New Cross Road), Brockley's Jam Circus, and The Tiger in Camberwell are up for sale.

But seemingly Antic London is still expanding - as well as The Job Centre, they are also planning new pubs in Woolwich, the Walworth Road and elsewhere.

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