Victorian Warehouses

22nd December 2021

Many of London’s more interesting shoot spaces are housed in Victorian buildings. These old warehouses, factories, schools and stable blocks give a fascinating insight into the history of the different activities taking place in Victorian London.

47/49 Tanner Street in Bermondsey, which now has four indoor and two outdoor shoot spaces, was originally a Victorian tannery. Leather making in Bermondsey dates back to the 15th Century. The combination of good water, oak trees and plenty of space to keep animals led to Bermondsey producing about a third of all the country’s leather by the late 17^th Century. Leather Lane was lined by eleven tanneries and the leather industry was an important employer in Bermondsey, although perhaps not as important as the docks. In the 20^th Century the leather trade declined with the last working tannery in London, S.O.Rowe & Sons of Tanner Street closing in 1997.

First Options Studio, that houses their fabulous shoot kitchen with mobile island, is in a converted Victorian zip and suspender factory in Perseverance Works, off Hackney Road.

Perseverance Works had for many years been the home to Howard Wall & Co. who manufactured tape measures and busks for corsets.

At the Tram Depot in Clapton, there are a number of diverse studios in the spaces that were once used to house the horses and trams that worked on London’s busy tram service. Most of London’s Tram Depots were demolished following the demise of the tram, but fortunately Clapton Tram Depot was just saved, having been condemned in 2011 for demolition and development into a complex of modern flats. It now houses Clapton Tram, Clapton Country club, The Laboratory, etc…

The Spratts Factory, an incredible double height, light filled apartment and shoot space in Poplar is in the converted Spratts dog biscuit factory. Many of the original factory markings and letterings are still visible on the buildings. In the early 20^th Century the Spratts Works was the largest dog food factory in the world.

The three studios at Crixus Studios, Studio Green, Studio Kitchen and Studio White are ll housed in a Victorian warehouse by The Thames in the old Woolwich Dockyard. This had been a dockyard on the Thames since the 16^th Century when in 1512 Henry V111 had founded the dockyard to build his flagship ‘Great Harry’ the largest ship of its day.

Park Village Studios in Regent’s Park tells a story of a hip sixties Chelsea photographer who gets a flat tyre outside a long unused Victorian horse stables. He peers through the grimy windows and thinks this could be my studio, which it being the 60’s is what happens. The Rolling Stones swing by and have their photo taken. Photography turns to film-making. Today, Park Village Studios is still home to the now long established production company Park Village, but the studios are available to hire.