AWARD-WINNING THEATRE FORCED TO CLOSE AS BATTERSEA POWER STATION UNEXPECTEDLY TERMINATES LEASE
Arches Lane Theatre launches emergency crowdfunding campaign after landlord triggers break clause to replace non-profit arts space with commercial hospitality operator.
Caption: Sharon Willems, Artistic Director of Arches Lane Theatre, holding her award after being named Best Cultural Champion at the Wandsworth Women's Enterprise Awards in March 2026. The award-winning venue now faces permanent closure following an unexpected lease termination by Battersea Power Station. Photo Credit: Arches Lane Theatre / Kibo Productions
LONDON, UK — Arches Lane Theatre, a 100-seat independent theatre in Wandsworth, faces permanent closure after its landlord, Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), unexpectedly exercised a break clause despite publicly celebrating the success of the theatre as “an important and highly valued resource for the local community.”
Led by award-winning Artistic Director Sharon Willems (Best Cultural Champion, Wandsworth Women's Enterprise Awards) and Executive Director Leo Bacica—operating as non-profit Kibo Productions—Arches Lane Theatre provided free community access to the arts for local residents during Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture celebrations. It is set to be replaced by a commercial hospitality venture—just over a year after BPSDC awarded Kibo the space through a public competitive tender process. The eviction cuts short a joint three-year plan designed to increase local access to the arts.
Beyond its theatrical productions, Arches Lane Theatre is a cultural hub for the local community—hosting live music, stand-up comedy, cabaret, and serving as the local home for regular children’s theatre classes. The theatre was fully programmed until the end of 2026 and has been forced to undertake the immediate cancellation of its autumn and winter schedules including programming for the Voila! Festival, the theatre's festive winter season and community initiatives after learning of its impending eviction.
“We are crushed by the decision to close Arches Lane Theatre. We were brought in by BPSDC to breathe life back into this theatre, and for the past year we gave everything we had to build a thriving community hub,” said Sharon Willems, Artistic Director of Arches Lane Theatre. “To deliver on that vision, only to be shut out of conversations around our future and blind-sided once the decision was made, is devastating.”
“In a year we created an open, accessible theatre where neighbours could connect, local children could experience their very first theatre outing, and visitors could get creative together—so that this new real estate development might begin to become a genuine, thriving neighbourhood. Culture and community aren't just buzzwords—they are essential to the vitality of this area, and they're good business.”
The theatre is being handed over to commercial hospitality operator "Off-Grid," despite the Battersea Power Station estate already hosting over 50 food and beverage outlets, including five bars and restaurants on Arches Lane.
The sudden forced eviction leaves Kibo Productions facing the urgent burden of dismantling, transporting, and storing specialist theatre equipment. They are launching an emergency crowdfunder that will cover these immediate operational costs while safeguarding the independent company through this abrupt closure.
A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT FOR LONDON’S CULTURAL SPACES
Caption: HRH The Princess Royal touring Arch 756 during its official 2017 launch as 'The Village Hall'—a dedicated civic and arts hub for Battersea Power Station. Nine years later, the venue faces permanent closure as developers replace the cultural space with a commercial bar. Photo Credit: Stephen Lock / i-Images
The decision marks a significant operational shift for BPSDC. A dedicated arts and community venue has anchored the cultural offering in Arch 756 for nearly a decade—originally launched in 2017 as 'The Village Hall', later operating as The Turbine Theatre (established with support from the late West End producer Bill Kenwright), and currently as Arches Lane Theatre under Kibo Productions.
Willems added: “To see what was originally created as the estate’s dedicated cultural 'Village Hall', and later became The Turbine Theatre—launching groundbreaking work like Rob Madge’s My Son's A Queer—now reduced to a function room in a commercial hospitality venture is devastating. We built Arches Lane Theatre to carry their legacy into the future and it’s been wonderful to have so many locals discovering us and telling us how glad they were to find a theatre on their doorstep. Closing the theatre is a huge loss for the area and sets an alarming precedent. If a successful, dedicated theatre can be so easily steamrolled out of existence, no cultural space in London is safe. Independent cultural spaces must be valued, protected, and properly invested in—not treated as temporary placeholders for commercial operators.”
Zakiyyah Deen, local playwright and workshop leader with the Arches Lane Theatre Wave Writers programme—a series of free playwriting workshops for local women of African and Caribbean backgrounds—commented: “It is a terrible shame to hear about the closing down of Arches Lane Theatre. A place like this is a safe haven not only for working creatives but for community members in the local area looking to connect with the arts. It is an essential home for artists and those in the local area.”
Willems concluded: “Our priority now is to honour our promises to our artists in our final season and to safely close the theatre with the respect it deserves. It has been a profound honour to serve as stewards of Arches Lane Theatre, and I’ll always be proud of the moments of creativity and connection we shared together here.”
A CALL TO PROTECT LOCAL CULTURAL SPACES
Arches Lane Theatre is calling on the public to support its final scheduled programming (live performances will conclude 27 September) and to back its emergency crowdfunding campaign. Support the emergency crowdfunder here.
The theatre has formally raised the eviction with Nine Elms Ward Councillor Matt Corner and is in conversation with Wandsworth’s Arts & Culture Team, The Theatres Trust, and the GLA (Greater London Authority) Culture at Risk team to navigate the closure and advocate for the preservation of independent cultural infrastructure in Wandsworth.
Public records show that the new tenant, trading as "Off-Grid" (operating company OG BATTERSEA 756 LTD), was incorporated on 15 May 2026—nearly two weeks before BPSDC verbally notified Kibo Productions of the lease termination on 27 May (formal legal notice served 18 June), and just two months after BPSDC hosted The Beat Goes On, the finale of Wandsworth's London Borough of Culture Year.
The closure raises urgent questions for local leaders:
Is this the true legacy of London Borough of Culture—using an independent theatre to build cultural capital, only to close it to commercial operators the moment the celebrations end?
The theatre is urging Wandsworth Council and policymakers to intervene—scrutinising planning obligations (such as Section 106 agreements) on private developments and actively protecting proven, non-profit operators like Kibo Productions so their vital work can continue.
⏱️ How We Got Here: The Timeline
MARCH 2025 | A 3-YEAR VISION BEGINS
27 March 2025 Kibo Productions signs a 3-year lease with BPSDC to establish Arches Lane Theatre as a non-profit theatre and community space through March 2028.
SPRING 2026 | THE THEATRE COMES ALIVE
18 March 2026 During the day, we formally meet with BPSDC to update them that our programming calendar was fully scheduled through late 2026. That evening, Sharon is named Best Cultural Champion at the Wandsworth Women's Enterprise Awards.
21 March 2026 BPSDC hosts The Beat Goes On at Battersea Power Station, celebrating Wandsworth’s year as London Borough of Culture.
15 May 2026 Public Companies House records show that OG Battersea 756 Ltd (trading as commercial operator "Off-Grid") is incorporated.
27 May 2026 (TURNING POINT) BPSDC verbally informs us they are triggering the lease break clause to terminate our lease and moving in a commercial tenant who does not intend to operate the venue as a theatre. We formally request—both that day and when meeting with the incoming tenant the following week—to stay through December 2026 to honour contracted artists. BPSDC and the new tenant flatly refuse. Given their absolute firmness, we immediately begin the painful process of cancelling contracted shows.
JUNE 2026 | THE HARSH REALITY SETS IN
17 June 2026 We notify BPSDC that we have completed cancelling our entire autumn/winter programming from 28 September onwards.
18 June 2026 Formal legal termination paperwork arrives from BPSDC.
JULY 2026 | MIXED MESSAGES
2 July 2026 In an in-person meeting, BPSDC offers a late 3-month extension due to shifts in the incoming tenant’s fit-out schedule. Having already notified BPSDC on 17 June that our autumn season had been cancelled due to their eviction notice, accepting an extension of our occupancy was neither viable nor reasonable—demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of how cultural venues operate. We explain why we cannot accept, but informally request two weeks to decommission and de-rig the space when shows are no longer running. BPSDC verbally confirms this 2-week extension is acceptable, while flatly refusing our request to relocate the theatre elsewhere on the estate.
20 July 2026 We formally confirm in writing our intention to proceed with the agreed 2-week extension to safely de-rig technical equipment and vacate. We are currently waiting on BPSDC to provide the necessary legal paperwork.
LOOKING TO OUR FUTURE
4 August 2026 We decide to go public with our closure and launch an emergency crowdfunder.
27 September 2026 Final live performance at Arches Lane Theatre.
28 September 2026 Official lease termination date.