How the Young British Artists drove gentrification in Hoxton and Shoreditch

In the very beginning, back in the early 1990s, Hoxton and Shoreditch was deserted in the evenings and at weekends. It was deprived too - not to say poverty stricken.

This meant there was plenty of space available in the old warehouses left behind from the area’s industrial past. And this attracted impecunious young artists looking for cheap studios.