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Sometimes the good guys win. And after 15 years of tireless campaigning from local residents to save the capital’s only Latin market from demolition, a victory has emerged. Latin Village is saved!
Latin Village occupies the Seven Sisters Indoor Market in Tottenham and is a vibrant hub of Latin American businesses and migrant communities. Until recently, it’s been eyed-up by property giants who wanted to erect 190 build-to-rent flats on the site, with no affordable housing provision. The flats would have required the demolition of the historic Wards Corner building and market, which could have displaced poorer residents from the area.
But property developer Grainger PLC abandoned its multi-million-pound property plan last month, citing ballooning costs and strong community opposition as reasons for pulling out.
‘The nightmare is over,’ Victoria Alvarez, a trader and campaigner for the Save Latin Village campaign, said to Time Out. ‘It’s a great victory – not only for the Latin American community, but for the community as a whole. I can’t put into words what it feels like for all of us, it shows just how strong communities can be when they come together.’
The Save Latin Village campaign recently received support from Haringey council for its alternative Wards Corner Community Plan: a proposal to work with traders to deliver a new community-led regeneration of Seven Sisters Market. It highlights a need for affordable rents for market traders and new, accessible social spaces in the area.
Latin Village is at 233 High Rd, N15 5BT.
The Cause in Tottenham only has months left in its current form.