Southwark: astonishing new look for The Range in Surrey Quays Shopping Centre as music venue opens

Corner Corner will be based in the former branch of The Range in Surrey Quays Shopping Centre for five years - as it is due to be bulldozed.

The 1980s shopping centre is set to eventually be demolished as part of larger plans to redevelop the area near to Canada Water station. A Southwark Council planning committee approved plans for the new venue at a meeting on Wednesday evening (February 5).

According to proposals submitted by developer British Land, Corner Corner will include an events space, food hall and an indoor farm. Herbs and salad leaves grown on the farm will be used in meals served in the venue’s food hall.

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Broadwick, who ran nearby club Printworks which closed in 2023, will manage the new venue. Corner Corner is expected to mainly host jazz and other ‘low key music events’ rather than the huge club nights Printworks was famous for. Printworks is expected to be reborn in a new venue a part of Canada Water’s wider regeneration.

“The internal music levels assumed in the noise assessment do not allow for a traditional live music / concert hall type venue as the internal levels they are using are too low to enable most commercial artists,” according to council planning documents related to the Corner Corner application.

Proposals approved by the committee would in principle allow Corner Corner to open until 3am from Thursday to Saturday. The venue would still need to get licensing permission from the council. But a representative from Broadwick told the meeting that Corner Corner was not intending to regularly open until 3am, adding that the late opening hours applied for ‘just gives us flexibility in the future for the odd event that might come up’.

A British Land representative added: “This venue will create new employment opportunities during both the construction and operational phase.”

A planning committee made up of Labour councillors Richard Livingstone, Cleo Soanes, Kath Whittam and Michael Situ approved the application unanimously. Cllr Whittam, member for Rotherhithe, said she had concerns about the late opening hours but accepted the proposals were ‘good’ and had lots of variety. She joked: “The music offer apparently is going to be jazz mainly, which I would vote against.”