Leeds City Council has put the Aire Street Workshops, a creative hub that has supported independent businesses in the city centre for more than 42 years, up for sale, telling around 30 tenants they must vacate. The workshops house film labs, art studios and other creative businesses employing about 150 people, many of them under 25.
The council says the sale is part of a wider review of its assets after reporting a £36.3 million overspend. A council spokesperson said: “While the property is identified for future disposal, the council will continue to support the licensees and offer to meet with all stakeholders as this work progresses.”
Tenants say the move threatens businesses that have grown too large to run from home. “We have built our businesses up to this point where it’s not tenable to do it from home. We need studio space,” said freelance artist Zac Rossiter. Family-run Take It Easy Film Lab described the sale as a direct threat to its existence. A petition started by one tenant calling on the council to reconsider had gathered more than 3,400 signatures within a week.
Business owners say the loss of the workshops would undercut Leeds’ identity as a hub for creative industry, warning that displacing so many small businesses at once risks weakening collaboration in the city’s creative community and having a wider economic impact, as first reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post.
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