The Labour Party has moved its headquarters back to Southwark, 26 years after it left its old premises on Walworth Road.
The party is now based at offices at 160 Blackfriars Road, also known as Friars House. It was most recently based in Victoria Street, near Westminster.
In October last year, rumours began circulating that Labour was eyeing a move back to the borough.
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A Labour official, meeting for 2023’s first National Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday, January 24, confirmed the rumours by sharing photos of the view from the new office on Twitter.
“Meeting held at the new Labour Party offices on Blackfriars Road which are much nicer, suitable and better value for money (with amazing views of London to add),” NEC member Dish Rahman wrote.
LABOUR NEC REPORTBACK!
(thread)First NEC meeting of 2023 today just finished!
Meeting held at the new Labour Party offices on Blackfriars Road which are much nicer, suitable and better value for money (with amazing views of London to add) pic.twitter.com/R5Rj6LlK66
— Mish Rahman (@mish_rahman) January 24, 2023
In 1997, the party left what is now a Safestay hostel in Walworth and headed for the Millbank Tower next to Westminster.
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The new headquarters are two tube stops away from Westminster on the Jubilee line.
Built in the 1960s, the building also houses a Pret A Manger, Sainsbury’s and a Costa coffee shop.
In 2021, Maya Capital LLP and AnaCap Financial Partners bought the building for £125 million.
Statements shared on the building’s website show their intention of building a new hotel in the old car park to the back of the building.
The site’s freeholder is the Bridge House Estates, a charity administered by the City of London Corporation.