Holborn Studios closes after going into administration

Holborn Studios. Photograph: Ian Shacklock

An iconic photography studio in Hoxton has closed permanently after going into administration. 

The “Abbey Road of photography” has finally closed as Hoxton’s iconic Holborn Studios fell into administration on 12 March, ending a defiant 14-year legal battle against luxury redevelopment.

Despite a desperate £700,000 rescue plan to settle historic tax debts, the permanent closure of the Eagle Wharf Road complex has resulted in 33 redundancies and the loss of what co-owner Billy McCartney calls a creative “family.”

Holborn Studios, which was established in 1979 by Margaret and Vince McCartney, entered administration on 12th March 2026, according to documents filed on Companies House.

The Holborn Studios website has also been deactivated.

Co-owner Billy McCartney spoke to the Citizen in his first public interview since the closure.

There was a “historical debt to HMRC that triggered the insolvency proceedings”, he explained. 

“We had a plan to bring some money into the company, which would have then covered the debts, and the company would have traded out of the insolvency through a CVA [Company Voluntary Arrangement].

“So we had a plan to bring in about £700,000 into the business and trade out of the CVA, thus keeping everyone’s jobs and keeping everything going.

“The landlords were obviously notified that we’ve gone into administration to protect the business, and at that point, they served a section 146 notice, which essentially terminates the lease.

“We would have fought that notice. There were points that it could have been fought on, but we weren’t in control of the company, because it’s over to administrators, and they weren’t minded because they have to act in the best interests of the creditors and of the staff and everything else.

“They weren’t minded to fight the notice. So essentially, they agreed to the lease termination.” 

The studio had previously been at the centre of a decade-long legal dispute with property development firm Galliard Homes who intended to redevelop the complex and turn it into 50 homes and roughly 5,500 square metres of workspace. 

Holborn Studios had also twice taken Hackney Council to court for granting Galliard unlawful planning permission.

“After going through the High Court for 14 years or however long we’ve been doing it, stopping the planning was a big blow to us,” McCartney told the Citizen.

“So we’ve lost the studios. It’s stopped trading at Eagle Wharf Road. Subsequently, two other businesses of ours, Caravel restaurant and Studio Kitchen, have had to stop trading because their leases have been withdrawn by the landlord. And so yes, 33 people have been made redundant.”

The Hoxton-based studio, once described by fashion photographer Helmut Newton as the “Abbey Road of photography”, was the largest photographic studio complex of its kind in Europe and was frequented by celebrities such as David Bowie, Kate Moss and David Beckham. 

After being founded on Roger Street in Holborn, the studio moved to Hoxton’s Eagle Wharf in 1987 in a previously derelict warehouse.

In July of last year, the studios were dealt a glimmer of hope when the High Court quashed the third attempt at redevelopment in little over ten years. 

However, this reprieve has proved to be short-lived, as the news of its administration will likely raise further questions about the redevelopment of the building. 

“The landlord obviously wanted us out of the building,” McCartney told the Citizen. “They want to redevelop it. So with us out the way, it makes things a lot easier.

“I have found out this morning that they are approaching other operators who run the studio side of it.

“So taking the existing shell of everything that we built over 37 years and giving that to someone else… it was at that point, I think, then quite vindictive, because they just wanted us out of it. And the fact that they’re approaching other studio operators kind of confirms that to me.”

The news will come as a crushing blow to photographers and creatives, having been an epicentre for fashion, portrait and commercial photography since the 1980s.

World-renowned artists such as Annie Leibovitz, Clive Arrowsmith, Terence Donovan and David Bailey worked in the studio over the years, helping to cement its legacy as one of London’s most important creative hubs.  

Ray Burmiston is a London-based photographer who had worked at Holborn more than any other studio since beginning his photography career in the early 90s.

“It was a bit like hearing a close friend had died,” he told the Citizen when describing the moment he found out about the closure.

“It was such an important part of so many people’s careers.”

Burmiston agrees with Newton’s comparison: “If you go into Abbey Road, it’s not the flashiest studio in the world, you know, but it’s got history, and it’s got an atmosphere that’s just special, that you don’t get anywhere else.

“And I think Holborn was like that, you know, there was something about the place.”

Burmiston recalled shooting the cover of the first edition of the Top of the Pops magazine featuring Brett Anderson of Suede and Tony Mortimer of East 17 in the studio, as well as using baby tigers when shooting the cover of Ricky Gervais Live: Animals, the comedians first stand-up comedy DVD. 

The studios were founded in 1979 by Margaret and Vince McCartney. It started life in Holborn before moving location to Back Hill and then to its final, canal-side site in Eagle Wharf Road. The business has remained in the McCartney family through various iterations throughout the years. 

“My parents founded it in 1979. I was born in 81”, shares McCartney when asked about his fondest memories of the studios. “The stories that I’ve got would probably make a series of books.”

“It’s really hard to pick out any one thing. For me as a kid, growing up there and meeting your childhood heroes – whether that be Tottenham footballers back in the 90s, or getting to meet Oasis several times…and actually going to work with Oasis on several occasions.

“They were a huge band, a huge part of my life. [I also worked] with other bands I love, Ocean Colour Scene, The Libertines, meeting Samuel L. Jackson and having a beer with him.” 

After Vince passed away in 2024, the studios were run by his sons Mikey and Billy.

“Mikey and Billy were really helpful to me over the years,” Burmiston said. “But their father, Vince, who ran the place before, so many people that I’ve met have said that Vince really helped them, you know.

“So to lose the studios is one thing, but to lose their kindness and brilliance is another. I’ve spoken to not just photographers, but models, makeup artists and stylists all in the last week, who said, ‘Oh my god, Vincent, he really helped me, and Billy really helped me.’” 

When asked how he wants Holborn Studios to be remembered, McCartney told the Citizen, “It was a family.”

“We were never kind of a corporate entity, all of it was very much an extension of my family. I had 40 photographers attend my wedding, that kind of gives you the scale of it. We brought everyone. Everyone was always part of everything we did, and we did it all together.”