Empty Shops Network

Resource Quicklinks:

• NEW! Download the 2010 Empty Shops Toolkit here>>>
• See the latest from empty shops projects across the UK here>>>
• Download the2009  Empty Shops Workbook here>>>
• Yahoo Group for discussion, support and advice here>>>

Empty Shops Radio:

Listen to the Weekly Podcast

Download as Podcast..

Project pages:

• Empty Shops network in Adur & Worthing
• Empty Shops Network on tour

About the Empty Shops Network:

"An ingenious way of bringing art to the people" Alan Yentob

"Helping local individuals and groups to work with councils in converting less glamorous spaces to good use" The Times

Welcome to a network of projects in empty shops and slack spaces across the UK. The Empty Shops Network is a loose coaltion, an informal collective, a timely coming together of meanwhile art galleries, pop-up shops, short-term community spaces, informal activity hubs, and temporary studios. Some empty shops projects last a week, some six months; all believe that meanwhile activity is valuable to local communities.

In 2010, it's estimated that about 13% of the UKs shops are sitting empty and that one in five empty shops may never be used again. Members of the Empty Shops Network help new businesses start on the high street, bring visitors back to Britain's town centres and help the local community turn private spaces into public places.

Empty Shops projects across the UK: 

Scotland

• Peebles Empty Shop Initiative

Ireland and Northern Ireland

• Out of Place (Belfast)
• Refound (Belfast)
• SWITCH (Co. Tipperary)

Wales

• ArkLab (Cardiff)
• Empty Shops Project (Newport)
• Do I have to paint you a picture? (Cardiff)

England

North

• POP Blackburn
• Art In Unusual Spaces (Leeds)
• Sheffield Empty Quarter
• Empty Shop (Durham)
• Triangle Shopping Centre, Manchester
• Temporary Art Space (Halifax)
• Gallery TS1 (Middlesborough)
• Secret Gallery (Morecambe)
• 92 Empty Shops (Leeds)
• NeoArtists (Bolton)
• Arcade Arts (Carlisle, Cumbria)

Midlands

• Wise Bird Dance Company - The Party (Coventry) 17th-19th May 2010
• We Create (Wolverhampton)
• The Corner Shop (Wolverhampton)
• Fishmarket (Northampton)
• Lab Rat Orchestra (Coventry)
• The Bubble Chamber (Coventry)
• Blink (Coventry)
• Castle & Elephant (Coventry)
• The Market Cinema (Coventry)
• Shop Front Theatre (Coventry)
• Coventry Artspace (Coventry)
• VOID (Coventry)
• No Parking Collective (Derby)
• ANart Theatre (York)
• Frost (Birmingham)

East

• Breckland Council (Breckland)
• The Shop (Cambridge)
• Slack Space (Colchester)
• Changing Spaces (Cambridge)

West

• The Octagon (Bath)
• Found Space (Exeter)
• Our Place, Your Place (Taunton, Somerset)
• Dance Dialogues (Bristol)
• The Emporium (Bristol)
• The Milk Bar (Bristol)
• Steal From Work (Bristol)
• Phoenix 52 (Bristol)
• Broadwalk Arts (Bristol)
• The Island (Bristol)
• Dursley Town Council, Gloucs
• Malvern Exhibition of Contemporary Art (Worcestershire)
• art360-Hereford
• Plymouth Slack Space
• Kingston Studios Art Group (Taunton, Somerset)

South

• Eyelife (Tunbridge Wells)
• Sutton Community Arts Space (Surrey)
• Agora - National Empty Shops Centre (Shoreham by Sea) Opens May 10
• Pop-Up Playspace (Worthing) February 10
• Gallery This Way (Eastleigh, Hampshire)
• Re;Space (Hampshire)
• Limbo Arts (Margate, Kent)
• Hastings & St Leonards Artists
• iCandy Arts (Hastings)
• Suffolk Artists
• Revolutionary Arts Group (Brighton, Worthing)
• The Up Market (Worthing) November-December 09
• Pop-Up Gallery (Worthing) April 09
• Ice Prince Festival (Worthing) January 09
• Artists + Makers Festival Shop (Worthing) June-July 07
• ConTemporary Gallery (Brighton) 2002-2006
• Archaeological Science Investigation & Preservation Project (Sittingbourne, Kent)
• B&B Project Space (Folkestone)
• Slack Space Brighton
• ReOrsa (Thames Valley)
• Creative Cabins (Poole)
• 2nd Birthday (Bournemouth)

London

• Posted (Hackney)
• Seven Days in Seven Dials (Seven Dials, Covent Garden)
• cutshuffledeal (Camden)
• Pebbledash Gallery (Stoke Newington)
• Market Estate Project (Camden)
• Brixton Village
• Shop at 34 (Covent Garden)
• Watford Art Space
• Camden Town Unlimited
• Quest For Paradise Arts (Wandsworth)
• [noplaceprojects*] London
• Supine Studios (Hackney)
• Wasted Spaces (Brent)
• The Apollo Project (Herne Hill)
• Watch This Space (Covent Garden)
• Bigger Picture Gallery (Crystal Palace)

International

• Renew Newcastle (Newcastle, Australia)

How to get involved in the Empty Shops Network:

Not on the list? If you know any empty shop or scheme we haven't listed, please get in touch with the Revolutionary Arts Group who are co-ordinating the network (on a voluntary basis).

Alternatively, post empty shops to our Moblog and map

You can browse Artists and Makers to find out about current Empty Shop opportunities for artists and makers across the UK.

You can also make a donation to support the Empty Shop Network

Last Updated Friday, July 23 2010 @ 05:32 PM BST|33,574 Hits