The Foundry closed for the last and final time when i was away in Canada. I took these photos during the squat occupation that started in June, after the gallery and venue was forced to close.

For more info on that, please see http://londonist.com/2010/08/foundry_squatters_evicted.php

It’s been a long time since I went to the Foundry, to be perfectly honest, and I can’t pretend that in recent times it has been one of my haunts.  But like many, many London artists – especially those of the more alternative persuasion – the Foundry is for me a place that hosted some important moments in my life. Luna Nera did two shows there early in The Foundry’s incarnation, in the creepy bank vaults (SEE PICTURE BELOW) , and we did a live internet hookup from our residency in Kronstadt, Russia in 2004.

above,  LUNA NERA // DIRIZHABLE “THE THAMES-OKA PROJECT” THE FOUNDRY 2000.

As well, as a local resident I always welcomed coming along Old St or down Pitfield Street and seeing the Foundry open for business, in all its counter-cultural glory.  It was always one of the must-see stops I recommended to visitors to London (excepting my parents, I guess).

I’m sorry to see it go. If the hideous Hotel across the street from it is anything to go by, I’m not looking forward to whatever replaces the ramshackle old bank. Sure, the end of the Foundry is the last nail in the coffin of the old, underground Shoreditch. It was the last outpost of a community that was put to the sword almost a decade ago.