Boxpark 'racism' row: Mall firm under fire over artist's impression that 'contains no ethnic minorities'

Controversy: The more or less all-white artist's impression circulated over the summer
Ramzy Alwakeel9 November 2015

Boxpark is facing claims of racism after circulating an artist’s impression of its new south London mall that apparently shows no ethnic minorities.

Publicity images of the forthcoming Croydon Boxpark produced by a graphic design firm in July depict an eating area containing about 100 white people – even though census figures show Croydon’s population is about 45 per cent non-white.

But a revised image on the designers’ website shows several black and Asian people added at a later stage. The “all white” version still appeared on the Croydon Boxpark website as of Monday morning.

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell told the Standard: “I think the fact Boxpark is coming to Croydon is really great, but quite often we get advertising that doesn’t reflect the reality that Croydon is one of the most diverse parts of the capital.

“That’s a shame and this isn’t the only example I’ve seen.”

Slide the white line across the interactive image below to see how the picture was changed

Mr Barwell, who at one time sat on the all-party parliamentary group on race, added: “One of the real strengths of Croydon as a place is the incredible mix of people. People from all over the world live here.

“It would be great if they used the version that reflects that.”

He said he hoped minority ethnic business owners would occupy many of the slots in Boxpark Croydon, which is expected to be primarily a food court – unlike its Shoreditch counterpart, which focuses on clothing.

A Boxpark spokeswoman called the gaffe “an initial oversight on our part” and confirmed new versions of the graphics had been produced about six weeks ago.

Revised: The new version of the image shows a more diverse group Boxpark

“Our CGIs were produced by an outside marketing company,” she said. “This was an initial oversight on our part which we have now rectified.

“Boxpark is proud to be a racially diverse company, and we employ people from a wide ethnic background.”

The first version of the picture was uploaded to Facebook at the weekend and has since gone viral.

Oliver Richards’s post, shared hundreds of times, captions the picture: “According to this mock-up of the Croydon Boxpark, massive ethnic cleansing is going to take place before opening in 2016.”

Plans: An alternative artist's impression of the new mall Boxpark

Others labelled it “institutionalised racism” and observed: “NONE of these ‘what it might look like’ things ever seems to have a black person in them!”

Tatiana May commented: “How could they not have thought of this?”

Chris O’Donnell added: “Not a true representation of Croydon, but a glimpse into its gentrification. Just like everywhere else the real people are being forced out by new developments and unaffordable housing.”

And Angela Keating wrote: “Seriously, where the blacks at?”

Indika Sarathchandra asked: “Are us ethnics going to be served eviction notices?”

Others took to Twitter to complain about the perceived lack of ethnic minorities in the picture.

AngieLiveOnline (@angieliveonline) tweeted: “@boxpark 'Croydon' dreams of a no go place for ethnics! Let’s play spot the ethnic! #Disgusting #EthnicCleansing.”

Indecent ‏(@Indecentldn) added: “Croydon Boxpark will bring an ethnic cleansing to the area evidently.”

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