Last Monday, 14th September, was the anniversary of our community launderette opening in1992, and we’re very proud to still be here following the principles that have guided us so well as a resident run not-for-profit community enterprise for 28 years.
We want to thank everyone for supporting the launderette during this very strange and difficult time of emergency and uncertainty. As a community not-for-profit business run by voluntary directors it is our aim to remain open and provide a service as long as it is safe and viable to do so, and we’re proud we’ve been able to do that with our fantastic team of staff who have all worked to ensure that we remained open throughout lockdown and will continue to remain open for the foreseeable future. Currently we’re open on Monday, Tuesday and Friday 9.30am-4.30pm; Saturday and Sunday 9am-5pm, but we’re keeping these hours and days under review and will amend them as business demands. Updates/changes will be posted here and on our Facebook page.
The launderette started as an idea from Boundary Estate residents in 1989, after a ballot of the estate that offered a choice of a launderette and other community business ideas to be run by a resident board of volunteer directors, employing local residents and providing a service open to the whole community. With the support of the Tower Hamlets Environment Trust fundraising and planning began in earnest and by May 1992 a team of six voluntary directors were appointed, all of whom were estate residents agreed at resident meetings, funding was in place and the fitting out of the premises at 28 Calvert Avenue was well under way. By August we’d interviewed and appointed a team of four staff, all local residents, and the final preparations were being made for us to open. Since opening we’ve been able to keep the launderette operating from our income alone whilst keeping the prices truly competitive and paying staff the London Living Wage. But it was funding and support from a wide range of organisations that enabled the launderette to open in 1992, and it was funding via an online competition in 2012 that enabled us to purchase and install a new large machine. A huge amount has changed in the area since we opened, what was a forgotten and run down corner of Bethnal Green and Hackney has grown into a very trendy and popular neighbourhood with some of the best shops, cafes, restaurants and nightlife in the UK, but if you scratch the veneer of trendiness you will discover that the area that the launderette and the Boundary Estate is still one of the poorest wards in the country, (if not the poorest according to some indices), with child poverty and pensioner poverty ranking amongst the highest in Europe.
Like many small businesses we have been hit very hard by the current emergency, we were fortunate to receive a small government grant and we have managed to keep most of the staff working, although some are on furlough until the end of October. Still, things are tight and to keep going we may need to ask for help via fundraising which is likely to include crowdfunding. Before the Covid19 emergency hit the directors had agreed to make 2019 the year we fundraised to replace the machines, (many are those installed 1992!), fully refurbish the premises for the first time since opening and to make plans so that when we reached our 30th anniversary in 2022 we would be ready to face the next 30 years. Obviously those plans are all on hold until we know for certain what the new normal turns out to be, but we are going to start looking at a how best we might start a crowdfunding campaign to see us through this difficult period. We can understand some might not see why a launderette business should ask for support, but this launderette is no ordinary business – we’re proud that for 28 years we’ve been a resident run, not-for-profit community enterprise whose directors receive no payment and who, thanks to our our great staff, have become a valued community hub as well as providing a much needed place to clean laundry to everyone who needs it.
We’ll be working with The Young Foundation, Spacehive and others in the coming weeks to look at the best ways for us to raise funds and we’ll keep you updated on our ideas and future plans, and if crowdfunding is amongst them we hope some of you might be able to donate and that many of you will spread the word.
In the meantime we’ll continue to provide our wonderful community with clean laundry!
