Ministry of Sound Gets Green Light for House of Fraser Conversion
Former store premises to be turned into offices and gym
Visualisation of the planned development. Picture: The Ministry
January 3, 2023
An application by the founders of the Ministry of Sound night club to convert the former premises of House of Fraser in the Westfield Shopping Centre has been given approval by council planners.
The company is intending to switch the department store from retail use into a co-working space with a gym and a rooftop restaurant. There is no intention to open a night club although the idea of ‘fitness raves’ at the gym have been mentioned.
There were some objections to the proposal, but the borough planning department ruled that a change of use at the 115,000 sq ft site was allowable.
The Ministry of Sound opened its first night club in 1991 in a former bus depot at Elephant and Castle giving the rave scene a legal venue for clubbers. Now trading as The Ministry, the business has expanded into co-working office space which provides people the opportunity to hot desk at serviced offices as well as a permanent location for other businesses. It has set up a similar operation in Borough in 2018.
House of Fraser closed in 2020 after the company was taken over by Mike Ashley, the Sports Direct owner and Westfield refused to meet his demands for significant rent reductions.
The original intention was for the centre to open next year. It will provide space for 1,200 office workers based at the site as well as 500 stations for hot-desking. The aim is that much of this space will be taken up by creative and technology industries including freelancers, start-ups and various sizes of companies.
There will be fitness studios in the centre with instructor led classes as well as a private members’ gym and a juice bar on the level of the shopping mall.
A rooftop restaurant with 150 covers, a private member’s bar and an event space for conferences will also be part of the development. There will be meeting rooms able to accommodate up to 300 people.
The centre will employ around 130 people directly and it is hoped that 80% of these will be recruited from the local community.
Westfield has accepted that some of the retail space within the centre needs to be repurposed due to current consumer buying patterns and it hopes staff based in the offices will boost sales for nearby shops.
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