The Spike Surplus Scheme was a community-run

self-managed social centre A self-managed social center, also known as an autonomous social center, is a self-organized community center in which Anti-authoritarianism, anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venue ...

in a

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

building in

Peckham Peckham ( ) is a district in south-east London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vi ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

. It was occupied in 1999 and provided a range of mostly free activities for local people until its eviction in 2009 by

Southwark Council Southwark London Borough Council, also known as Southwark Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour major ...

Occupation

The Spike Surplus Scheme was established in 1999 when a fly-tipped, vandalised site at 39b Consort Road in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council ...

was squatted. The building had in the past been a doss-house or "

spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

" (a shelter of last resort) serving the unemployed, homeless, and urban poor for over a century. At the time of the occupation, the exterior grounds had been used for

fly-tipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorised method such as curbside collection or using an authorised rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto ...

. On arrival, the members of the scheme immediately cleared them using a JCB digger.

Activities

The social centre provided rehearsal/recording facilities, health/martial arts space and a community garden. Running on a "

do it yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, wikt:modification, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals ...

" and free-where-possible or donations level, the facilities were used by a wide variety of local people. Other users were community garden

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using Systems theory, whole-systems thinking. It applies t ...

groups, martial arts, and various alternative therapy groups. Alongside other squatted projects such as

121 Centre 121 Centre was a squatted self-managed social centre on Railton Road in Brixton, south London from 1981 until 1999. As an anarchist social centre, the venue hosted a bookshop, cafe, infoshop, library, meeting space, office space, printing facili ...

, 491 Gallery, 56a Infoshop and

RampART Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

, the Spike developed into an alternative institution promoting social movements and local initiatives.

Eviction

Having established a peppercorn rent contract,

decided not to renew the contract in 2008, giving the centre until September 26 to raise £440,000 to buy the plot. Despite various fundraising drives, including selling 'Peckham diamonds' which were bits of glass from broken car windows filed down and sold in plastic wallets, the centre was unable to buy the site. In December 2008, the council gave notice of eviction, saying they would give two weeks' notice of the actual date. The centre was then evicted without notice on 12 February 2009. People were forced to negotiate with bailiffs to regain musical equipment.

References

External links

Archived blogArchived website
{{SquatE&W Social centres in the United Kingdom DIY culture Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark Peckham Evicted squats Squats in the United Kingdom

Occupation

Activities

Eviction

See also

References

External links