When Fabrix purchased the Victorian warehouse at the northern end of Holloway Road – now rechristened The Billiard Factory – it needed total restoration. The 23,000 square-foot building had been sitting vacant and cut-off from the community for many years. Luckily their USP is working with underutilised and overlooked urban spaces (they’re also the people behind Symes Mews in Camden).
“The provision of public realm and high-quality, well-connected workspace is really lacking on the Holloway Road,” says Fabrix’s Morgan Baker. “Our vision has been to transform a blank and disused space into a lively and affordable creative campus, which openly contributes to the local community and resurgence of the area.”
Following a comprehensive refurbishment, The Billiard Factory now provides the perfect balance of offices, public realm, co-working and events space. Not to mention cocktails. But first: coffee.
If you want to take a weekend walk to a new spot for a brew, check out the Green Room Cafe, which serves speciality coffee, cakes and meringues by Maison Patron (yep, the Kentish Town faves, more of which below.) It even has a co-working space, with the option of dedicated desk space.
The campus itself has become home to creative tenants including world-leading costumiers Cosprop, big screen animators Blink Productions and leading youth arts organisation the National Youth Theatre.
Recent lettings leave just two 5,000 sqft units remaining in The Warehouse building and, with co-working space Green Room Workspace now open, the building can cater for businesses of all shapes and sizes, from an individual to an office with up to 100 desks. Just head to the café for more information and a tour.
“The restoration of The Billiard Factory and the way it operates today has grown organically from the needs of the local community,” says Fabrix’s Chris Ortner. “The Green Room Café has become a social hub not just for The Billiard Factory occupiers but also for the N7 community at large. Since opening, we’ve played host to community gigs, events and workshops and raised money for Macmillan Cancer Foundation, OMPowerment Project, Movember and the Rainforest Trust.’
Now, The Billiard Factory is gearing up to welcome new businesses to the neighbourhood. Gorillas Technologies, the on-demand grocery delivery service founded in Berlin, has taken almost 4,500 sqft for a term of five years. The move follows a major funding round and expansion in Germany and the Netherlands. The Billiard Factory will house the UK headquarters, and the Gorillas service – which uses hyperlocal distribution hubs to deliver groceries in just ten minutes – launched in the Angel and Shoreditch areas this month.
Super popular North London restaurateurs Patron London have signed a 10-year lease for the ground floor retail unit fronting Holloway Road, and on April 30th are launching London’s first off-the-shelf bottled libations store, Le Cocktail Shop. The Billiard Factory will build on Patron London’s two North London based French restaurants Patron Cave à Manger and cocktail venue Tabac Bar as well as their online home delivery service Maison Patron.
“Signing up Gorillas Technologies and Patron London confirms the attraction of The Billiard Factory for the next generation of tenants and operators looking for design-led, mixed-use space in well-connected urban fringe locations,” says Morgan Baker. “We look forward to welcoming them to The Billiard Factory community.”
