It was a sad day for Crouch End when it lost Hornsey Art School and now, it appears, we are on the verge of losing the Mountview Theatre School, which started life here but, when more space was needed, moved just a short distance away to Wood Green. The plan since 2008 has been to bring this vibrant community back to Crouch End with an ambitious plan to remodel the listed Hornsey Town Hall as a cutting edge arts centre.
It seems that the difficulties raised by English Heritage, whose job it is to protect the building’s integrity, have spiralled costs to an unreasonable level so the plan has stalled.
Understandably, the school which is in desperate need of a new home is now looking elsewhere and believes it has found the ideal site in Southwark. It appears that this will leave Haringey with no tertiary education provider and, will of course, remove another source of creative energy, employment and the spending power of a large group of students from our area. Let’s hope a solution can be found in which all partners gain.
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