With it “mini Holland” cycle-friendly streets, good schools, cafés, restaurants and excellent Tube and Overground train links, Walthamstow is one of east London’s most desirable family locations.
But there are fears that another of its visitor attractions –– the “Blackhorse beer mile”, which has boosted E17’s credentials among younger Londoners –– could be at risk.
Two breweries run by The Wild Card Brewery, which was a pioneer in establishing the making of craft ales in this part of east London, have been shuttered after bailiffs arrived.
Waltham Forest council ordered bailiffs to remove Wild Card from the premises it occupied on the Lockwood Way estate, off Blackhorse Lane, on October 4.
A notice pinned to the door, from One Source, the Newham debt collectors used by the council, stated that they had entered the building and that the lease, which began in December 2017, had ended.
At Wild Card’s other site, on the Ravenswood industrial estate on the edge of Walthamstow “village”, it was a similar situation.
The brewery – surrounded by dozens of beer kegs – features a notice dated October 14 that states that agents on behalf of the landlords, City Properties, re-entered the premises because “you have failed to pay the rent” and the lease had ended.
From pre-pandemic times, Walthamstow’s active “party crowd” would gather on the estate and drink Wild Card’s beers – which were named after playing cards, such as the Queen of Hearts – driving the trend for industrial estates, which enjoy cheaper business rates, to be re-born as social spaces.
The Ravenswood estate includes God’s Own Junkyard, Mother’s Ruin, The Rolling Scones, Trap Room and Pillars Brewery.
Further into Walthamstow village, the part-pedestrianised Orford Road has seen the opening of a Gail’s bakery and the closure of the much-loved Eat 17 restaurant and a neighbouring tapas bar.
This is the centre of “village” life for thousands of young “Stow” dwellers, and a key reason for the #Awesomestow hashtag.
But for those seeking more of a hipster vibe, it is to Blackhorse Lane they turn, and its increasingly renowned “Blackhorse beer mile”.
Stretching from Blackhorse Road Tube station for about a mile north, here can be found a multitude of independent breweries with tap rooms, wineries and places to eat out. For those in search of an antidote to chain restaurants, this is the place to come.
But the closure of the Wild Card breweries has caused much concern. The firm is understood to have had sizeable debts, including owing about a year’s rent to Waltham Forest council.
Its owners did not respond to messages from The Standard.
Soon after the breweries closed, other businesses on Lockwood Way came under pressure from the council and its bailiffs.
None wanted to speak out publicly when The Standard visited the area.
But all referred privately to the challenging times – and their belief that the cash-strapped council risked jeopardising the future of something that makes Walthamstow unique, unless it re-thinks its debt recovery tactics.
What remains unclear is whether Wild Card went under because of its own financial failings – or whether it could be the first of many in E17, if the council’s pursuit of rent arrears gathers force.
Like other London boroughs, Waltham Forest council is facing a multi-million pound budget “black hole” – estimated at £30m over three years last year. An update on the dire state of the council’s finances is due over the next week.
One “beer mile” business owner said he had faced weeks of anxiety battling to agree a repayment schedule with the council to prevent bailiffs turning up to lock him out of his premises.
Last week, after countless emails, including to Labour council leader Grace Williams, and after The Standard began asking questions of the council, a senior town hall official visited. As a result, the threat of bailiffs arriving imminently receded - but the council’s new terms were “pretty harsh”.
The bar owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said there had been a “total failure” of different departments at the town hall to “join the dots” and recognise the importance of the “beer mile” to the area’s vitality, and wider attractiveness to outside investors.
Several years ago, the council spent about £700,000 making the semi-derelict estate attractive to the “night time economy”.
Lockwood Way was branded as part of a “creative enterprise zone” that was designed to lure visitors to Blackhorse Lane.
But critics say the council now appears willing to evict businesses – in a desperate attempt to recoup rent, often unpaid because of Covid-era debts – without recognising that this could bring in less income in the long run.
“We are paying the council £1m over 10 years, and £60,000 a year in rates,” the trader said. “There is not a humungous demand from other firms to move into these units, for the price the council are asking for them.”
Another firm on the “beer mile” told The Standard how it held £4-a-pint events to ensure customers could still afford to visit during the cost-of-living crisis, and worked with a nearby nursing home to prevent the elderly feeling lonely.
Business owners say that “trade is decent” - but the pub and brewery industry has suffered years of challenges, from the pandemic, to Brexit, to soaring energy bills, which added to beer production costs.
“The wider context is that there are still problems with the economy,” they said. “The council are trying to pull in money from everywhere they can. But they might not be acting with a holistic, joined-up view of the future.
“The council is so fractured, no-one knows what is going on in different departments. It’s just so frustrating for everyone. I think they want to make it work, but I don’t think they’re going about it in the right way.
“We are not trying to run away. We are trying to make our business a success. We are keeping our heads above water at the moment, but it’s hard. The idea of the beer mile not surviving is horrible.”
But the owner of another firm thought the council had given firms longer to pay than private landlords would have allowed.
He said: “All the businesses on this street have debt for unpaid rent from Covid. If they had a private landlord they would have been out ages ago. If anything, the council has been lenient.”
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, who has been in contact with a number of Blackhorse Lane traders, said: “Walthamstow beer mile has rightly become a much loved and visited attraction so I do understand the concern about the future of businesses there in the light of recent events including the sad closure of the Wild Card brewery.
“I've sought and received assurances that the council is committed to helping tackle the problems that have arisen with rents and supporting these brilliant small businesses so that we can all enjoy the beer mile for years to come.”
A Waltham Forest council spokesperson said: “We work hard to assist local businesses and give them the time and support they need to thrive.
“When a company has accrued significant rent arrears, we may need to take action to protect the public purse and ensure taxpayers’ money is used wisely.”
