N16 Magazine Summer 2003 - issue 18 pg 23 The Factory

by David Vandivier

The Factory Community Project sits at the top of Matthias Road just before it turns into Newington Green by the Mildmay Social Club and the Unitarian Chapel. The Factory was built in the late 19th century and was one of the first of the piano factories which stretched from Newington Green right into Shoreditch, supplying an eager population with their equivalent of today’s television.

It was still making pianos into the 1930s and was a lookout point for fires and bombers during the first and second world wars. Many families enjoyed ‘a knees up around the old joanna’ courtesy of the Factory. In 1973, after being an ink factory, a car repairer, a printer and a host of other things, some less salubrious than others, the councils (both Hackney and Islington, as it falls on their border) agreed to renovate the premises into a community centre in response to the various communities’ need for somewhere to meet.

Since then, the Factory has gone through peaks and troughs with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (and misfortune) to contend with. It has recently undergone an amazing renovation programme to sort out its access problems and to bring it kicking and screaming into the new millennium. Up until a few years ago, the building was heralded by a complete, fullfrontal mural of flying doves, ducks and a lot of peace and love. The staff refused to wear bellbottoms but were not averse to some Jimi Hendrix – and, yes, they were experienced.

Anyway, here we are in 2003 and the Factory has complete access for the disabled and is currently raising the funds to expand into the adjacent derelict property and open a new centre called ‘The Mary Wollstonecraft Project’. The building is named after the woman who opened the first school for women in Newington Green in 1784 and influenced the members of a local group called the Rational Dissenters (see page 8). She wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women and was a great thinker in her own right. She was the mother of a daughter by her husband William Godwin and she died of blood poisoning as a result of a complication after the birth. The daughter, Mary, went on to marry the poet Shelley and to write Frankenstein.

The Factory is an example of how the community can be best served by a service that actually responds to the needs of the community. It offers a complete wraparound childcare service and a choice of 28 classes from English to NVQ in Childcare to English classes (ESOL) all week long.

If you want any further information contact :
David Vandivier
The Factory
107 Matthias Road
London, N16 8NP
0207 241 1520 (W)
0207 275 7798 (F)
d.vandivier@thefactory.uk.net

Some recent reviews
...and I thought that delicate lavender & blood orange butter sauce was simply to die for. I particularly liked the lobster brochettes... Vlad the Impaler	...well of course it's not really quite in hoxton yet, is it and as I was saying to my friend Gordon just the other night... Morgan le Fay, The evening spaniard
Kickin' bar...wicked...! M Theresa	Service was slow & horribly courteous and the food tasted too much of proper food. Oh and there are no plastic toys with the main course! R. Mcdonald
Very,very nice food, cooked to perfection & everything just the way I like it. Neil's mum	...Its all run by those verminous, thacherite nazis who have no understanding of proper celtic culture and who...oh thanks mines a pint...where was I ...oh yes... A Welshman at the bar
....an admirable venue for a pre theatre dinner. Perhaps we shall stay longer next time and make an evening of it... Abraham Lincoln	One eats here on occasion C.Windsor
59 Kynaston Road, N16 020 7923 4766

On Line

Some recent reviews

59 Kynaston Road, N16 020 7923 4766

59 Kynaston Road, N16
020 7923 4766