Heartbreak for young jobless as 2012 east London festival venue closes

 
The entrance to the London Pleasure Gardens is seen in east London July 30, 2012. The plan was ambitious: to turn a rundown docklands site on the River Thames into a cultural oasis, but the London Pleasure Gardens has so far failed to live up to its name, leading the venue's artistic director to resign this week. Photograph taken July 30, 2012. REUTERS

Unemployed teenagers who got work at an arts quarter are “heartbroken” after the project collapsed.

Hundreds of staff are said to be owed wages following the closure of the London Pleasure Gardens close to the ExCel centre in east London.

The centre, which was supposed to be an Olympics party venue, went into administration little over a month after it opened despite a £3 million loan from Newham council.

About a third of those working at the venue were unemployed young people. A protest being staged at the site today will call on the council to compensate those owed wages.

The Gardens hosted last month’s Bloc festival that was described as the “worst festival of all time”.

Newham council said anticipated visitor numbers and revenue had “not materialised”. The company behind the festival, Baselogic Productions, has also gone into administration.

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