Info/Contacts
TOBACCO DOCK
50 PORTERS WALK - WAPPING LONDON E1W 2SF
For Information about London Tattoo Convention please email:
info@thelondontattooconvention.com or mikivialetto@tattoolife.com
In 1990 the building was converted into a shopping centre which had cost £47 million to develop and was intended to create the Covent Garden of the East End but the scheme was unsuccessful and it went into administration. The property is not in a major retail area and has only moderately good public transport access. Since the mid 1990s the building has been almost entirely unoccupied with the only tenant being a sandwich shop, and a plan to convert it into a factory outlet did not come to fruition. However the site is still highly maintained which includes the employment of cleaners, a full time security staff and even a kestrel to discourage pigeons from this site.
The whole building is occasionally used for large scale corporate events such as the Vodafone and ABN AMRO 2005 annual staff 'party'. In early 2004, part of the building was used as the studios of the Channel 4 reality television show Shattered. Several after-première parties for films have been held there. Scenes in Episode 6 of 2008 BBC One drama Ashes to Ashes were filmed at Tobacco Dock which was set in 1981 despite the centre only being developed for its failed use as a shopping centre in 1990.