Printworks London

Printworks London was not just a nightclub. It was a revelation — a venue that fundamentally changed what Londoners expected from an electronic music experience. Located in a colossal former newspaper printing facility on Surrey Quays Road in Canada Water, South East London, Printworks took the raw industrial grandeur of a working factory and transformed it into the most visually and sonically spectacular dance music venue the UK capital had ever seen. From its opening in January 2017 to its final events in 2023, Printworks redefined the landscape of London nightlife.

The building's history stretches back to its role as a printing plant for some of London's most widely read newspapers. The massive facility housed the printing presses for the Metro and the Evening Standard, churning out millions of copies daily for distribution across the capital. The sheer scale of the operation required an enormous industrial space — the main print hall stretched over 130 metres in length, with towering ceilings and the heavy infrastructure needed to support industrial printing machinery. When newspaper production moved elsewhere, the building sat dormant, its vast concrete halls silent.

Broadwick Live, the events company that would become one of the UK's most important live entertainment operators, recognized the space's extraordinary potential. Under the leadership of Bradley Thompson and his team, Broadwick Live secured the building and began converting it into a multi-purpose events venue. The genius of their approach was restraint: rather than gutting the industrial character of the building, they preserved it. The original printing presses remained visible. The raw concrete, the steel beams, the industrial ducting — all of it was kept intact, forming the aesthetic backbone of what would become Printworks' unmistakable visual identity.

On 28 January 2017, Printworks opened its doors for the first time with Issue 001, and London's electronic music scene was permanently altered. The daytime format — events running from approximately 1pm to 11pm — was unique among major London venues and became one of Printworks' most defining characteristics. What began as a licensing constraint became a cultural statement: Printworks proved that world-class electronic music events did not need to happen in the dead of night, and that the energy of a daytime rave could be every bit as powerful as a traditional late-night club experience.

Printworks' programming was curated by a rotating cast of the world's best electronic music promoters, each bringing their own identity while working within the unique framework of the venue. The result was a remarkably diverse calendar that ranged from pounding techno to euphoric house, from live electronic performances to drum and bass events that shook the concrete foundations. Several events stand out as defining moments in the venue's history.

Bicep Live at Printworks became one of the most talked-about electronic music performances of the late 2010s. The Belfast duo's live show — built around their debut album and featuring tracks like "Glue" and "Opal" — found its perfect home in the Press Halls. The combination of Bicep's euphoric, emotionally charged music with Printworks' immense production capabilities created shows that attendees describe in almost spiritual terms. The visuals, synchronised with the music and projected across the vast room, elevated the performance into something closer to a communal experience than a concert.

Four Tet brought his All Night Long format to Printworks for sessions that showcased the full range of Kieran Hebden's extraordinary record collection. Playing extended solo sets that moved between house, techno, ambient, UK bass, and countless other genres, Four Tet transformed the Press Halls into a deeply personal musical journey. These sets demonstrated Printworks' versatility — a space vast enough for 5,000 people yet capable of feeling intimate when the right artist was at the controls.

Adam Beyer's Drumcode events were among the most anticipated on the Printworks calendar. The Swedish techno institution's nights brought a relentless, driving energy to the Press Halls, with lineups that regularly featured Beyer himself alongside artists like Amelie Lens, Charlotte de Witte, Enrico Sangiuliano, and Layton Giordani. The combination of Drumcode's powerful, peak-time techno and Printworks' industrial setting was a natural pairing that produced some of the most intense nights the venue ever hosted.

The sonic experience at Printworks was built on a foundation of world-class engineering. The venue's custom-installed d&b audiotechnik sound system was specifically designed and tuned for the extraordinary acoustic challenges of the Press Halls — a 130-metre-long concrete corridor with hard, reflective surfaces and a vast volume of air. Getting sound right in a space like this is an immense technical challenge, and the team behind Printworks invested heavily in ensuring that the system delivered clarity, power, and immersion at every point in the room, not just at the front.

The d&b audiotechnik system was distributed along the length of the Press Halls in carefully calculated arrays, ensuring even coverage across the enormous floor area. Sub-bass was powerful enough to be felt physically — a visceral, chest-rattling presence that was essential for techno and drum and bass events — while the mid-range and high frequencies maintained the clarity needed for more nuanced, melodic programming. DJs who played Printworks frequently praised the system for its fidelity and its ability to reveal the detail in a mix, even at the extreme volumes demanded by the space.

But sound was only part of the Printworks production equation. The light shows were legendary — arguably the most spectacular of any club venue in the world. The Press Halls' industrial strip lighting, combined with a massive complement of moving heads, lasers, strobes, and LED arrays, created visual experiences that matched the scale and intensity of the music. Production designers worked with the architecture of the building itself, using the 130-metre sightlines, the exposed beams, and the concrete surfaces to create light installations that were more akin to large-scale art than traditional club lighting.

The daytime format added another dimension to the production. Because events began in the afternoon, designers could play with the transition from natural to artificial light as the day progressed. The journey from daylight to darkness, from the openness of the afternoon to the intensity of the evening sessions, mirrored the musical arc of the events themselves and gave Printworks a rhythmic, narrative quality that purely nocturnal venues could not replicate.

Printworks was located at Surrey Quays Road, Canada Water, London SE16 7PJ. The nearest station was Canada Water, served by both the Jubilee line and London Overground, making the venue easily accessible from almost anywhere in London. The walk from the station took approximately five minutes, following the signs south along Surrey Quays Road. Surrey Quays station on the Overground was also within comfortable walking distance. Bus routes including the 381 and C10 served the area. Driving was discouraged due to limited parking, and the venue strongly recommended public transport.

The daytime format shaped the entire experience of attending Printworks. Arriving in the early afternoon — queuing in daylight, entering a vast industrial space while the sun was still high — created a fundamentally different psychological atmosphere compared to a traditional nightclub. There was a sense of transgression and liberation in raving at 2pm on a Saturday, and the energy of the crowd reflected this. People were fresher, more alert, and more engaged than the typical 3am club crowd. The format also made Printworks more accessible — you could attend a world-class electronic music event and still be home before midnight, which broadened the audience beyond the hardcore nightlife demographic.

The legacy of Printworks extends far beyond its six-year lifespan. The venue proved that London had an enormous appetite for large-scale industrial electronic music events, paving the way for subsequent Broadwick Live projects like Drumsheds in Tottenham Hale. It popularised the daytime rave format in the UK, influencing event programming across the country. It demonstrated that preserving and celebrating the industrial heritage of a building could be the foundation of a world-class cultural venue. And it gave a generation of London ravers a shared reference point — a venue so powerful, so visually stunning, and so sonically overwhelming that it became the standard against which all other London venues were measured.

Printworks also played a significant role in the broader cultural conversation about nightlife, urban development, and the value of music venues. Its closure as part of the Canada Water regeneration project — replacing a beloved cultural institution with mixed-use commercial development — became a focal point for debates about what cities lose when they prioritise property development over cultural infrastructure. The closure galvanised advocacy for venue protection and inspired renewed calls for a Night Czar-style approach to preserving London's nightlife ecosystem.