Candid founder Duncan Barlow with arts administrator Alex Beck and student Katrin Beck

A THREE-decades-old, much-loved arts centre could be forced to close its doors for the final time at the end of the month after claiming a building site next door ruined its finances.

Duncan Barlow, who founded the Candid Arts Centre in Torrens Street, Angel, in 1989, said it will have to close by March 31 unless the developers compensate them for their loss of earnings due to six hours of drilling and jack-hammering a day.

Mr Barlow said: “We have big gallery spaces, I mean, it’s a big building. And we use those for filming, we do a lot of filming, a lot of rehearsals, a lot of corporate events and product launches and those are our moneymakers, so that we can put on exhibitions, do classes and all the rest of it.

“And we haven’t been able to do that at all and our losses now are probably £200,000 for the last year, because we just haven’t been able to utilise them at all.”

In January last year – the month before work started on the develop­ment – Arsenal legends including Ian Wright and David Seaman attended an event at the centre to exhibit the new artwork around the stadium.

The Angel Square development involves the partial demolition of a building to create office space as well as a public house.

Since February last year, Candid said it has been experiencing levels of around 90 decibels a day; on its website there are videos showing a sound reader hitting that figure.

Other films show glasses of water shaking as jack hammering is heard in the background.

Mr Barlow is calling for a change in the law to ensure that small-scale charities which are valuable to the community are somehow protected from the damaging side effects of large-scale construction sites which are engaged in commercial ventures.

He is saying that developers should be forced to offer some kind of compensation to prevent charities and community collectives from closure.

Dozens of the charity’s supporters have been writing letters of support for the venue, which has been serving the community for 35 years, while Mr Barlow had a meeting with Islington South MP Emily Thornberry recently.

Ian Wright at an event at the venue last year revealing new artwork for Arsenal Stadium

Geraldine and Derek Way have been using the venue for 13 years and said it “kept us sane” dur­ing Covid as they attended many Zoom sessions.

“In these times of world upheaval here lies a zone which should not be fighting for survival. A beacon of light in a darkening world needs to be reignited, not quenched by what we can only see as the greed of developers and an inconsiderate council,” said Ms Way, calling for the centre to be compensated.

“During these times when concrete buildings appear everywhere in London – taking away green spaces and community places in favour of business and investment – we need art more than ever to help us pull through the demands of our daily life,” said another user, Francesca Alaimo.

Ward councillors Martin Klute, Toby North, and Rosaline Ogunro said they were seeking a “charitable donation” from the developer on a “goodwill basis” to support the charity.

They added they were first contacted by Candid Arts in November and have since been working hard to establish leverage with the developer.

In a statement, they added: “We have now secured a meeting with the developers at which we hope to persuade them to deliver for Candid on their commitments in their Environment, Social and Governance policy, which references ‘supporting national, regional, and local nonprofits through charitable donations and volunteer efforts.’

“St Peters and Canalside councillors are concentrating on leveraging support on a goodwill basis, given that construction works are being carried out in compliance with the council’s approved construction manage­ment plan, and that any claim for compensation at this stage would be a private matter between Candid and the developer.”

An Islington spokes­person said: “As part of the construction manage­ment plan with the dev­eloper concerned, we sought to ensure that any construction work mini­mised adverse impact on neighbouring occupiers.

“We have supported conversations with the developer, who agreed to further reduce the approved noisy working hours to accommodate neighbours.”

The developer has not responded to the Tribune’s requests for comment.