Farewell, John Jones

dbopenlock

Classic example of jam tomorrow, Islington Council should have demanded jam today! Good luck to the John Jones family, nice work if you can get it.

littlemissnameless

'And yes all our staff received their full redundancy payments', not to my knowledge. I know some of those that worked for John Jones, and that statement is untrue. I'm sure some did get full redundancy pay, but certainly not ALL staff! Please do not misinform people.

badkitteh

I also know former employees of John Jones and absolutely believe littlemissnameless. They didn't even provide sickness pay so I'd be shocked if they bothered with redundancy for all of their employees.

miss annie

Heard this from someone when it happened. I never really fell for the Jones' "ever so 'umble" local business shtick.

joust

So what was the deal with the building?
Was it some sort of council funded thing or something?

miss annie

The planning application number was P100197.
You'll see that the building was supposed to have included gallery and exhibition space as an asset to the community.
You'll also see that John Jones built and own the large student housing building on the adjacent corner too - rented to UAL.
Note the number of concerns from various agencies about the environmental impact caused by destruction of the street trees that were there and the impact of the loss of green space. Both the trees and green space were supposed to have been replaced.
I expect the Kate & the gang just forgot to do it.

Ali

What is on that space is better than what was there before especially after the flats above the Sainsbury's got built. The new thing above the station looks like it will turn out to be a monster. I guess the next Tower will be on the MR yard.

Arkady

No Council funding. LB Islington fought the development (and lost) because they didn't want more student accommodation.

In the interests of balance, at least two of the removed trees (which were old, knackered, and totally the wrong species type to do well in that location) were replaced on the adjacent pavement and (if LB Islington are to believed) the rest replaced elsewhere. Let's remember that spending JJ's Section 106 money was Islington's responsibility - JJ couldn't spend it once they'd handed it over, so suggesting that they 'forgot' is a tad crass as well as inaccurate.

Wasn't the student & affordable housing given to the developer to offset the costs of construction? I think JJ only owned the JJ Arts building itself by the end of the process.

joust

Thanks all. That sheds a bit of light on it.

miss annie

I wasn't being crass, I was being either charitable or sarcastic. I forget which.
I am sorry, I know you and Kate were pals.

Arkady

Inaccurate and misleading either way.

miss annie

Not true about the trees. The report specifically lists all 21 trees that were there, and their condition. Not one was in bad condition and all were suitable street trees - Turkish Hazel, Crab Apple, Maple, all the kind of trees that go into streets now.
We are never going to agree on the subject of John Jones, I don't think they did particularly contribute to the area. The building is not as hideous as the new horrors going up at City North at least. Those are eyewateringly ugly from every single viewpoint.

Soon

the future of John Jones
https://www.standard.co.uk/business/ui-takes-punt-on-finsbury-park-becoming-startup-hub-and-buys-arts-building-a4044616.html

U+I is quite a wellknown company, so I am really curious to see what they have in mind.

gardener-joe

_Property sources said regeneration expert U+I has bought the 57,000 square feet Arts Building from picture-framing firm John Jones, which has used it for offices and workshops. A price of over £15 million is rumoured. Matthew Jones, the owner of John Jones, said he looks forward to “seeing the building enter into a new chapter”. He said closing the home of the business, which has been in the Finsbury Park area for 32 years, has been a hard decision. We feel strongly that now is the right time for us to take a much-needed [c. £15,000,000] break and put our own families first.”_

Didn’t he do well? Doubles all-round!

Ali

The picture the Standard has used at the link above makes the outside of FP station look incredibly rammed with folk a little bit misleading

therattle

I doubt that they get the full purchase price - I expect that there are other participants like investors and banks.

Arkady

https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/the-arts-building-u-i-wants-to-open-retail-space-in-finsbury-park-building-1-6464034?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=DM20645

LukeG

Good or bad news?

therattle

Hard to answer that without knowing what retail outfit will end up there.

HolbornFox

I'm hoping for a shop that sells breakfast cereal at all hours.

LukeG

Ah fair nuf! Here's hoping for some comic books and a Japan centre

Arkady

I second comic shop. This will never happen.

HolbornFox

Oh sorry I my phone autocorrected "Pie and Mash Shop" for some reason.

Ali

Sainsbury's will move down the street, what will happen to their smaller space ?

krappyrubsnif

@HolbornFox , can I have your auto correct please?

HolbornFox

That's HolbornFox, the Honourable Earl of Archway to you.

And yes you can, but it only works on Motorola 4500X phones.

LukeG

In all seriousness this could go a few ways - but I hope, given that there's going to be a bit of investment in the area from the City North development & shops, that someone thinks it's a viable spot for a good business: it's in a bit of a weird spot, massive footfall, but shitty neighbours.

Ali

It will be some sort of high street chain store unless the plan is to split the space up as it is pretty large. Way bigger than Walnut ever was.

HolbornFox

I think a set up like The Junction on Seven Sisters Road could be very good, it seems to be popular.

Ethnick

To those on here who did not appreciate how outstanding John Jones was in its field, I'd like to leave this brief comment.
The prices were not high for the work they performed. The set the highest standards and skills in their profession, which attracted the very finest clientele ie galleries, collectors, and customers whose pursuit of perfection was the priority. I was a client for many years, and since their departure I have not had anything framed. I have no idea where to go for such quality, although I'm sure one day I'll find a replacement. Yes, it was expensive compared to an average high street framing store but they weren't trying to attract that customer.
Miss Annie has made some particularly mean remarks here. She is obviously someone who has never run a business and is more comfortable criticising others from the sidelines. Thankfully, the country is not reliant on those people for its prosperity. However, knowing something about U&I I can assure you the building ended up in excellent hands. I'm just gutted that the Jones family were left with no choice but to sell.

Lastly, a comment on running your own business. There will be people on here who have done that or are doing that. It is an incredibly all encompassing all involving way of life, together with some critical responsibilities for others. I applaud and congratulate the Jones family for their multi-decade endeavours, and wish them all the best and long lives.

Thank you for being the outstanding business you were and for so long.