About Copeland Park
Way back in the 1990s, Copeland Park and Bussey Building set the bar for a grassroots, community-led creative prototype but, undoubtedly, its the residents – a diverse community of artists, small businesses, bars, restaurants and cinemas – who have made it what it is today.
Located minutes from Peckham Rye station, Copeland Park serves the area’s social and cultural heart by offering studios, workshops and space that enables creative businesses to flourish. From traditional, industrial spaces to derelict terraced houses, there are studios and exhibit space for painters, carpenters, textile and ceramic makers, office spaces for architecture, graphic design and photography practices and units for shops, fitness studios, restaurants and bars.
The Bussey Building is home to artists, a fitness studio, community theatre and faith groups, and a rooftop cinema, with unparalleled views over London, while a multi-storey retail premises with art-deco frontage is housed within the remains of the 1930s Holdrons department store.
Emphasis on community is paramount, and Copeland Park works with local groups to retain the area’s cultural diversity and vitality. In fact, a key factor in this cultural quarter’s success is how West African churches, mosques, street-food vendors, jewellers and tailors rub shoulders with creatives and entrepreneurs in, what many would deem, London’s most authentic and real neighbourhood.
At Copeland Park, it’s clear to see why this blueprint for a small business ecosystem is unrivalled anywhere else in the city, and how integral sites like this are to any thriving, creative community.
Strong on community, Copeland Park works with local action groups to retain the thriving community’s cultural diversity. West African churches, mosques, street-food vendors, jewellers and tailors rub shoulders with creatives and entrepreneurs, a key factor in this cultural quarter’s vitality and success.
Dating from the late 19th century, the Bussey Building was named after sporting goods manufacturer, and eminent Victorian industrialist and entrepreneur, George Bussey. A handsome, reinforced concrete industrial structure, it’s red-brick shell sees most of its decorative features on the side that faces the railway tracks.
From the outset, Copeland Park has been instrumental in setting up and running Peckham Festival.
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For the first time in decades, this beautiful Georgian mansion in the heart of Beckenham Place Park is open daily to the public as an arts, cultural and community centre.
