Spiritual London Boat Show home, Earls Court, to form part of massive new residential development
The Mayor of London, Bois Johnson, has given the go ahead for a 77-acre redevelopment in Earls Court and West Kensington, which includes knocking down the former home of the London Boat Show, Earls Court exhibition centre.
LOOK BACK AT PHOTOS OF THE LONDON BOAT SHOW AT EARLS COURT
Developers want to create four new villages and a high street and say the plans will create 7500 homes and thousands of permanent jobs.
The plans have been met with strong local opposition, with a loss of trade for the local area at the centre of concerns. Green Party London Assembly Member, Darren Johnson, said, “Boris Johnson claims to be a champion of the London economy and making it more attractive to foreign investment. Yet he has backed the demolition of the exhibition centres that are estimated to be worth over a billion pounds to London’s real economy, that attract one a half million visitors.”
The London Boat Show moved away from Earls Court in 2003, but it has proved itself to be a rose-tinted thorn in the side of the new location at ExCeL. The bad news for ExCeL is that the new development is expected to take 20 years to complete and will no doubt create plenty of ongoing publicity, keeping the Earls Court name very much alive.
Look out for MBM’s Autumn Boat Show Guide in the September issue.
