Putney Library Business Hub faces shock closure after £1m revamp

UPDATE: The Library has since confirmed that it does not intend to close the Business Hub.

The Business Hub at Putney Library is set to close at the end of this year – just 18 months after it was unveiled as part of a £1 million refurbishment.

GLL, the leisure trust which runs Wandsworth’s libraries under the Better brand, has told the Hub users that the co-working space will not continue beyond 2025. The decision has come as a shock, especially given the fact that the council only extended GLL’s contract in July, during which no mention was made of any changes.

The Hub was set up to support small local businesses and entrepreneurs, following a successful programme in Bromley, and the idea was partly to help new local businesses get on their feet in the hope some of them might take over vacant shops on the High Street.

It was backed by the Future High Streets Fund and opened in summer 2024 as part of a wider Putney Library’s refurbishment. We featured the Hub in an article just two months ago.

At the time it was launched, Wandsworth Council highlighted “flexible study spaces and workspaces for local small businesses and entrepreneurs” as one of the regeneration benefits.

But a review of official documents by Putney.news shows that the hub is entirely absent from the council’s new Library Strategy 2025–2030, which praises Putney’s “fantastic million-pound refurbishment” but says nothing about the business hub itself.

Committee minutes from June show councillors querying income generation from rented library spaces and raising concerns about “overcrowding in some libraries,” with officers pointing to plans to expand study space, but no mention of the Hub itself.

There was also no mention of Putney’s business centre when the strategy was formally signed off by Wandsworth Council’s cabinet in July, moments before GLL’s contract was extended to March 2028 with an option to extend for a further year.

Residents frustrated

Residents have reacted with frustration, with regular users complaining that despite a heavy level of investment in the space, it was never effectively marketed so people didn’t know it existed; something that has most likely led to its closure.

“Why was so much money spent on the refurbishment of the space that wasn’t properly executed or marketed?” asked one.

“It’s a great space but nobody knew it was here,” explained another.

Others compared Putney’s struggles with Bromley, where GLL’s “Start Up Bromley” hub has been operating since 2021 with over 600 members across three sites.

Nicola Grant of Positively Putney BID said she had visited the Bromley site and found it “very impressive,” adding: “I wish it had been a success here – we could have grown lots of amazing new business owners.”

Marketing failure

Users point to a chronic lack of promotion. Suggestions to list the hub on Google or specialist platforms like Hubble HQ were not taken up. “I’ve searched for co-working in Putney several times and this never appeared,” one resident said.

GLL has yet to explain why the hub will close, what will happen to the refurbished space, or whether residents will be consulted.

The Libraries First! strategy, which many had assumed would see the Hub continue, focuses on extending opening hours, boosting digital services and expanding study space — promising to “remove any cost barriers” for residents. By leaving business hubs out of its priorities, the council has effectively given itself cover to abandon them without scrutiny.

It is unclear whether the same fate awaits York Gardens Library in Battersea, which also hosts a Start Up Wandsworth hub but was also not mentioned in renewal plans.

What next?

Residents are now calling for clarity on plans: whether the second floor of Putney Library will revert to student study use or be repurposed for community activities.

Putney.News is also interested in how the decision was made, who made it, how the space was evaluated, how much public money was spent on the Hub, and whether residents will be consulted about the future of the space.

Unfortunately, the decision appears to fit in with a wider Wandsworth Council decision not to invest in Putney, its businesses or High Street while other parts of the borough are seeing millions of pounds of investment in their local communities.

Update 24 September: GLL has confirmed that it does not now intend to close the Business Hub.