Tower Hamlets: 'Shock' closure of launderette prompts petition

Boundary Estate Community Launderette is a not-for-profit service in Shoreditch

Staff and volunteers at an east London launderette have said they were "shocked" to find the service had been shut by the council.

Jean Locker, voluntary director at Boundary Estate Community Launderette in Shoreditch, said there had been no warning before the locks were changed.

However, Tower Hamlets Council said it had issued the not-for-profit service with a legal rental notice in July.

A petition has been set up, calling for the closure to be reviewed.

The launderette had been running since 1992, when it was set up by volunteers as a way to combat mould and damp issues in their flats.

Tower Hamlets Council said it had issued the service with a section 25 notice in July, which gave a six-month warning to end the previous lease.

Ms Locker said there had been "no follow up, no reminder, no visit" since then, and the group was "shocked" to have been locked out of the building earlier this month.

The launderette was set up by volunteers in 1992 as a way to combat mould and damp issues in their flats

The launderette said the council had asked for an annual rent of £12,500, with a year's rent in advance, which was £10,000 more than the original rent of £2,000.

A spokesperson for the council said the rental rate was a "basis for discussion".

"This process is set out in law and as part of that we have to include proposed new lease terms," the spokesperson said.

The council said it had not heard back from the launderette and "strongly encouraged" the tenants to get in touch.

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Shumi Begum said her laundry has been piling up since the laundrette closed earlier this month.

"I've got three kids, so you can imagine how many clothes I've got to wash and there's no drying facilities since the laundrette's been closed - it's appalling," she said.

Shumi Begum says her laundry has piled up since the laundrette's closure

The online petition, set up by local residents, calls for the council to grant a temporary tenancy to enable the launderette to resume operations immediately pending grant of a new lease.

It also calls for the building, on Calvert Avenue, to be added to the council's portfolio of community premises and for the authority to agree for the not-for-profit service to be eligible for community benefit rent reduction.

Harriet, who lives around the corner from the launderette, said residents were "really angry" about the closure.

"For some people, I know it's their only form of social contact every week," she said.

Volunteer supervisor Tracey Yewman, one of the three paid members of staff at the launderette, said "it wasn't just a job. It was family to me".

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