Passing Clouds founder vows to fight on despite ban as company director
Disqualified: Passing Clouds founder Eleanor Wilson. Photograph: Hackney Council/Adam Holt
In an exclusive interview with the Hackney Citizen, the founder of Passing Clouds has vowed to keep the Dalston venue afloat, in spite of her recent ban as a company director for failing to pay tax.
Eleanor Wilson, boss of the much-loved nightspot, is also in dispute with the building’s new owners Landhold Developments over its tenancy.
Passing Clouds’ ten-year tenancy agreement expired last month, though Ms Wilson insists they are not currently occupying the building illegally.
Wilson told the Hackney Citizen she had made a private agreement with the landlord to remain until 11 August, but admitted no contract had been signed by both parties.
The premises was last week ‘reclaimed’ by protesters after staff arrived at work to find the locks had been changed.
In triumphant scenes, supporters were able to clamber in through a second-floor window and wrest back control of the building.
Jubilant: Passing Clouds supporters outside the Dalston venue
But their coup may yet be short-lived, as it emerged that Wilson, as director of Passing Clouds Ltd, has been barred from running a company because of sloppy bookkeeping and her failure to pay thousands of pounds of tax due.
The disqualification, which kicked in on 1 June 2016 and lasts for five years, was the end result of an investigation by the government’s insolvency service.
Wilson’s bid to have the ban overturned in a court challenge last month (11 May), but was unsuccessful.
In a statement to the Hackney Citizen, a spokesperson for the government’s insolvency service said: “Eleanor Mary Wilson, the sole director of a community arts centre and live music venue, has been disqualified from acting as a director of a limited company for a period of 5 years for failing to pay tax and failing to properly maintain and/or deliver up the company’s accounting records.
“An Insolvency Service investigation found that Ms Wilson had been the sole director of Passing Clouds Limited from March 2011 and failed to deliver up accounting records to explain cash withdrawals and transactions debiting the company bank account totalling more than £80,000.
“The company also failed to pay sufficient monies to HMRC in respect of VAT and PAYE/NIC throughout its period of trading which resulted in a debt due to HMRC of more than £170,000.”
The case details can be found on the government’s insolvency service website.
Competing commitments
Wilson told the Hackney Citizen that the company’s tax liabilities had now all been settled with HMRC.
She admitted her “bookkeeping wasn’t on point”, and put it down to “complicated personnel issues” at the time.
She explained that tax deadlines were missed due to her competing commitments, which included work in Sierra Leone.
“I’m involved in international development work [as well as running Passing Clouds] and wasn’t able to juggle the two things,” she said.
Insolvency investigation
As long ago as 20 August 2013, Wilson decided that one of her companies, Passing Clouds Ltd, would be wound up voluntarily and a liquidator appointed, according records held at Companies House.
Passing Clouds Ltd is one of five companies linked to the venue run by Ms Wilson.
It was formed on 31 March 2011, however it went into liquidation less than three years later.
Two other companies, Passing Clouds Community Limited and Passing Clouds Community Trust Ltd, were struck off a year later, in December 2014.
Wilson also decided to wind up another of her companies, Passing Clouds Trading Limited, on 18 February 2015.
Three of the companies, Passing Clouds Trading Limited, Passing Clouds Community Limited, Passing Clouds Community Trust Limited were formed on the same day, 24 January 2013.
She was also company director of World Transtition (sic) Trust, which was dissolved on 8 March this year.
Wilson told the Hackney Citizen that Passing Clouds currently trades as East London Community Arts Ltd. The company was formed just under two years ago, on 14 Aug 2014, and came close to being struck off late last year.
When asked why she had set up so many companies with similar names at the same time, Wilson explained that each was set up as as “interim experiment” with the idea that each would run for specific projects, but that this did not materialise.
Future
But despite the travails of of the iconic club, Wilson still predicts a bright future for Passing Clouds.
“It doesn’t need to be me running it,” she said, commenting on the new situation. “I may not be the best person to head up Passing Clouds in the future.”
Wilson added that the organisation, which she founded ten years ago in June 2006, could survive by adopting a different operating model, such as a cooperative, a Community Interest Company (CIC) or a charitable trust.
Asked by the Hackney Citizen what she would consider to be a best-case scenario, Wilson said ideally she would like Landhold Developments “to sell us the building or grant a long lease – 10, 20 or even 30 years.”
She also pointed out that she was looking at cooperative and other business models for the future.
“With a project as pioneering and long-term as Passing Clouds, I need look into different types of corporate entity to find out which is the right one,” she said.
“I need to consider how it functions in the community – perhaps something like a charitable trust foundation.”
When asked by the Hackney Citizen if Passing Clouds might look for premises elsewhere, Wilson said it would be very difficult.
“Rents have gone up astronomically,” she said.
A late licence was crucial to keeping the business financially viable, she added, and said the council is no longer issuing them.
“We would never find a building like that in central London. We’d have to find a derelict warehouse, soundproof it as a music venue. As an international and cultural community cohesion project – that would be over. It would be almost impossible to set up a project like Passing Clouds again.
“We are a frontline community project that set up in what was known at the time as Crack Alley.
“Running the place in terms of all the paperwork and licensing and so forth, was a very difficult thing to do.
“Finally after 10 years the project has found its feet. They [the landlords] can buy any building, they can wipe us out just like that.”
Hackney Citizen this is appalling! You should be supporting your community and those in it, not trolling this amazing woman who has done so much good work. I wouldn’t be surprised if the landlords ‘Landhold Developments’ were paying you to write this, it’s just not right. There’s a reason why your readership is so low and this is a prime example. Shame on you!
Hackney Citizen, how ironic that literally the only negative press from this entire campaign has been from a community paper! One wonders what you want for the borough… Is it more luxury flats and offices, or community spaces like Passing Clouds? Neither of your articles even touched on any of the positive things that Passing Clouds provides for the community as an events space and meeting place for people of all different ages, backgrounds and races. Or mentions the 50 people that will lose their jobs. Truly disappointed at this deliberately vicious portrayal and lack of support.
She may well be the next Mother Teresa but she still needs to take her responsibilities as a local employer seriously and that includes paying taxes and NICs promptly. To excuse herself by saying that she had other priorities insults those of us who depend on tax-funded public services.
They call themselves leftists and then engage in corporate tax evasion. That really is the worst form of hypocrisy. I for one won’t be going to Passing Clouds again; I had thought they were sincere, but now I see they are on the take just like everyone else.
Who would wanna read in a local paper all the benefits and amazing community activities Passing Clouds has been doing/ is doing since 10 years?!?! How Boring…. Obviously, the journalist prefer to write a very clumsy article, with mislead information and a very badly explained situation….
All this to feed the people’s evil desire to read about someone drowning. Sad!
Very disappointing HackneyCitizen! As a local paper, I would have thought you would do better and would encourage your community (as Passing Clouds has been paying its council taxes).
Where is the balanced journalism here.Where is the long list of community events,projects and groups that Passing Clouds have nurtured and supported.
I am appalled at the lack of appreciation for a venue that has become an iconic pillar of the hackney arts and cultural community.
We need grass roots community music and arts venues to be supported.
There should be a cultural preservation order on passing clouds and other endangered London cultural venues.London has lost 50% of its music venues in the last 10 years.
Come on Hackney citizen,if you are here to support the people of Hackney,then live up to your name and support Hackney Citizens initiatives in the community more.
I hope you will write another article portraying some of the great work of Passing Clouds,showing the dedication,hard work and relentlessness it takes to keep a community venue alive.
In a sea full of property developer sharks, hell bent on turning London’s last,
legendary venues into an empty block of luxury flats,that no one actually lives in.
Buy to leave as a property piggy bank.
(couldn’t see a name attached to this article,who wrote it? it seems very on the side of the developer)
Good luck passing clouds many of us in Hackney hope you are successful in saving our beloved Dalston venue,for many generations to come.
Yours John Marshall hackney citizen
Lol this article is a joke I was there the cheque to the taxman was signed. Sloppy article more like. Speaking of cheques how much was on the cheque Garry Simpson sent you?
This article begs the question: Should this paper be called ‘Hackney Citizen’ or ‘Taxpayer Watchdog’. I dare say a huge number of the people that go to this community hub (Passing Clouds) are Hackney Citizens. And where is the Author’s name? True journalistic reporting is accountable. If you make claims, put your name to them. Furthermore, anyone who has run a simple business knows that business accounting is not everyone’s forté, even for the least complex of businesses. Passing Clouds has helped many disadvantaged people to connect to support networks in law and legal advice, so where is the understanding of their role in the community in this article, and where is the human compassion? Who’s behind this article?…..I smell a rat. (P.S. I’m the shirtless one. Accountability.)
Passing Clouds is something Hackney should be proud of as its a small enterprise doing big things which extend across the world. OK the founder may have some tax issues but that’s something that could be addressed quite easily. The Hackney Citizen should get behind this great community venue and never lose sight that it’s establishments like Passing Clouds that are positive lights bringing the community together.
Thank you everyone for your involvement in this discussion.
Passing Clouds has never called itself ‘leftist’, neither are we a ‘corporation’. Unlike Landhold Developments, which we assume is focused on making considerable profits for its directors, we are a self-funded, not-for-profit community arts centre. In order to be self-reliant financially and not be a financial burden on the state, we have a trading entity that enables us to cover our operational costs. In fact we pride ourselves on being one of the very few community projects in the country that is not reliant on state or private funding.
All funds raised at Passing Clouds are used to fund key services to the local community which are increasingly necessary in the wake of the huge cuts in local spending. Furthermore, everyone involved in the project, including myself are either volunteers or on very low wages.
Contrary to what has been published by the Hackney Citizen, we have never avoided tax and are up to date with all our local and national tax liabilities. The director’s disqualification is due to a late paperwork filing order which we are currently rectifying. The companies referenced in the article were set up at the time simply to experiment with a new organisational structure but never traded and remain dormant. We maintain rigorous bookkeeping as well as an open and transparent attitude towards all its community and business activities. If anyone wishes to talk to us about any of the issues raised in this article, we are very happy to discuss them. Please email us at we@passingclouds.org.
We too are confused as to why a community paper such as the Hackney Citizen would fail to miss the central issue in this debate which is surely the imminent destruction of our communities through profit-driven private development and instead seek to target one person within the organisation.
Whilst Passing Clouds provides an income to hundreds of musicians, artists, campaigners, film makers, managers, producers, promoters, sound engineers, event managers whilst also providing vital space, support and services for hundreds of local community groups. Passing Clouds is an important cultural incubator, just just for Hackney and London but the whole of the UK, making a considerable contribution to the creative arts sector, the UK’s second largest revenue driver.
Furthermore, the UK has lost between 40-50% of its live music venues over the last ten years, making the preservation of Passing Clouds even more of an imperative.
We are hopeful therefore that the director of Landhold Developments, Garry Simpson, will come to recognise how important community projects such as Passing Clouds are to our local community and that he will work with us to preserve this important cultural platform.
In fact he is quoted in Homes and Property as saying that he moved to Totteridge because he loves the ‘village feel’ with its local pub and shops and the undeveloped nature of the ‘green belt’.
http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/area-guides/greater-london/recessionproof-totteridge-30979.html. Clearly Garry Simpson is himself a lover of community.
In the meantime, we are writing to the editor of Hackney Citizen to ask them to clarify their stance is on the current wave of development in Hackney and why it is that they decided to take this somewhat hostile approach towards a small, independent community project struggling against the tsunami of corporate/capitalist-orientated whitewashing of London’s independent artistic scene and will be publishing their response in the comments to this article as soon as we have received it.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many hundreds of people from the local community and Hackney Council that have been so supportive towards us and in particular the many other cultural and community projects in the borough who are offering their solidarity at this time. Let us continue to work together to preserve the elements that make Hackney so special for those who live here.
Eleanor Wilson, Passing Clouds
I am appalled at the tonality of this article and how unbalanced it is. I’ve volunteered at Passing Clouds when it first started and have seen it grown into an amazing community space much loved by the local community. Eleanor & her Passing clouds crew have worked so hard in supporting and promoting so many artists & musicians while celebrating diversity. Venues like this in London are a rarity. To then see a so called ‘community’ paper paint an unfair & negative picture of this hard work is thoroughly sickening. Shame on you Hackney Citizen!!
The Passing Clouds collective has provided free space to a community kitchen, capoeira classes, a space for local musicians to practice music and perform, and a welcoming atmosphere for anyone to enter into. It’s important that community spaces like this, where strangers can meet and share stories and feel safe, are protected across London. London can be such an anonymous city of gray masses who don’t make eye contact on the Tube. It’s a breath of fresh air to step into a place where people make conversation and and come together in doing simple tasks like chopping vegetables, watching documentaries, taking part in debates, attending classes, etc. Surely the journalist sees the value of protecting open, common spaces like this? Isn’t an open space way better than every pub, nightclub, community space getting developed into private housing? I don’t think this is a fair article. Passing Clouds should stay open and Hackney Citizen should be supporting community organisations not undermining people who volunteer tirelessly within community organisations.
Shame on you. Why on earth would you post this during Passing Clouds’ plight. You could seriously effect the future of the venue by publishing this. Passing Clouds issues with its books are not conniving and would never have been about bettering its own fortune. Passing Clouds is a non-profit COMMUNITY venue that dedicates its efforts to enriching the community completely selflessly and this article paints the venue horribly. Why on earth would you contribute to the struggle of this place.
Surprised at HS’s approach here. Yes taxes should be paid, and business obligations taken seriously, but why the personal attack? Surely you should be supporting independent venues – especially those with such clear community values as Passing Clouds. Curve ball.
wow i’m speechless at this article, re name your website the HMRC citizen. SHAME ON YOU
Surely in times of division we need to stick together..
Passing Clouds is a creative hub that encourages and fosters musical and cultural diversity, one of a kind. And you want to replace it with a block building of identical offices!
What is the world coming to when the community that helped to secure a venue is now beginning to turn on it. Never reading the citizen again, just a load of awful propaganda.
What a sly and vindictive article – If you want some more interesting reading about company directors I suggest you check out Citizen Media Limited and a Mr. Keith Magnum the producers of this blog – https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06948834
I pay my taxes.
What appallingly sloppy journalism and anti-community vibes. Who wrote this? Jeremy Corbyn filed his tax return late, probably because he was busy trying to make the world a better place, like this woman was doing with her international development work, it’s very different from, say, David Cameron’s deliberate tax avoidance. Honestly, you should be ashamed of yourselves for publishing an article which is taking a cheap, sensationalist shot at a small independent business which gives so much to the community. Hackney needs jewels like this absolutely unique venue, this is what made and makes the area interesting, diverse and worth visiting, not another anonymous block of unaffordable flats or faceless offices courtesy of a development company with dollar signs in its greedy eyes. I’ve been going to Passing Clouds since 2008 and without it no one would want to live or work on that road anyway, by bringing a community who cares about the area and a crowd to keep the alley from being a dark and scary place Passing Clouds has genuinely helped to transform the area. I think what they’ve managed to achieve in their time there is amazing. Long live Passing Clouds! #passingcloudsforever
Hackney citizen, you have made a big mistake publishing nonsense like this, shame on you, we all support passing clouds and we know the truth, we just wont read your nonsense again, silly journalists!
Disgraceful article for a community publication, totally missing the point of all the good Passing Clouds has achieved for its local community and misrepresenting its owner as a tax evader. Outrageous.
So I have looked into the owner of Hackney Citizen Mr Keith Magnum, he owns his own property management company which explains a lot!! The company is called Clifton Court Management. What do you have to say for yourself Keith?
Hackney Citizen, this is a sloppy and disgraceful article. There seems no be no hint of balanced journalism, there is enough bias in this article to classify it as a blog entry, not as a respectable community article. You seem to have completely overlooked ten years of crucial and invaluable community engagement, workshops, concerts, music and movie screenings. Hackney would not be where it is without the dedication of Passing Clouds staff and artists. It’s important that you mentioned several underlying legal issues, but the problem is that you’ve ‘forgotten’ to mention anything else. This article has so many red flags sticking out of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were paid to write it. My view of the Hackney Citizen has definitely shifted… in the negative direction.
Dear Keith Magnum, (Editor of Hackney Citizen)
I’m aware of what a great asset Passing Clouds is to the local community, and also aware that you have yet to publish Eleanor Wilson’s (Director of Passing Clouds) response to the above claims, why?
I look forward to your response.
Best regards,
Jamie
P.S.
For anyone not aware of Passing Clouds, this recent article in The Independent (see link below) talks of the great support the venue provides to the local area & beyond, its much more than an arts venue – enjoy reading 🙂
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/dalston-institution-passing-clouds-the-latest-venue-under-threat-from-developers-a7095751.html
Passing Clouds has been a local inspiration since 2006. It brought this eclectic music scene to Dalston. To close it, the desire (reported) of the now owner of the property, is obviously an error of thinking, an aberration of mind unconcentrated. If you buy an important art movement and destroy it, you are an iconoclast.
This venue is one of the only places in the entire country where you will see young kids covered in glitter, old Jamaican rudies, city boys, people who don’t drink, students, locals, internationals and people of all ages, genders, sexuality and religions dancing to live music together, in harmony.
To attack it, is to attack one of the few places that has genuinely managed to achieve a space of unity and equality. How many places in this city are actually, genuinely accessible to any and all of it’s residents? Passing Clouds is special and it needs to be preserved.
IM so not in love with the Citizen anymore are the devlopers paying you ,
I pay my taxes…on time.
Isn’t paying taxes on time also part of supporting your community?