Camden Lock (1973 — 1999)

"A classic example of an entrepreneurial approach to development with special attention paid to attracting users and to creating excitement" — Department of Environment

Camden Lock was the first of USM’s many ventures bringing arts and crafts together with property development into a retail market situation. Once a derelict timber wharf, blighted pending a motorway that never happened, USM turned it into one of London’s top ten visitor attractions with over 20,000 visitors a week. Camden Lock was the pioneer not only of a whole retail genre but also of the regeneration of the entire Camden Town area.

Objectives from the start were low initial outlay, a wide variety of activities, imaginative low-cost community-based promotion and constant re-investment in further innovation. To the original buildings with their cobbled yards and alleys a £4 million development was added including a new market hall, exhibition space, canalside pub and many more retail and business spaces