Right on cue: Victorian former billiard factory reimagined as a contemporary campus

Although it doesn't yet grab the headlines like Shoreditch and Clerkenwell, Holloway Road nonetheless offers a sound proposition as a modern business location with its combination of transport links, bustling street life and extremely competitive rents. There are savings of more than 50% to be had over prime City Fringe rates. When also considering that the Zone 2 location saves money on commuting, it is still just 5 mins away by tube from King’s Cross and the Eurostar terminal.

These multiple factors are putting Holloway Road on the radar of both developers and occupiers, resulting in a marked upgrade of the types of commercial space available that evoke the raw spirit and style seen at the beginning of the Shoreditch revival.

A prime example is The Billiard Factory where a trio of three-storey buildings occupy a private mews setting. With a gated entrance directly off Holloway Road, the development would make a unique and genuinely charming location fit for a variety of uses, from creative workspace, to cultural venue to artistic studio. Available as a whole or as individual units, it could make a fascinating 17,000ft² campus or headquarters, or a community of smaller enterprises seeking upwards of 600ft².

In what really does feel like a family of structures, The Billiard Factory is divided across The Warehouse, The Mews and The Gatehouse. Although each building is completely different to the other, the emphasis on exposing as much of the original fabric as possible has delivered a number of shared qualities through exposed brickwork, raw timbers and window restoration. And despite the gated entrance, there’s a tangible connection with the community through The Green Room; an onsite café space (as well as private building management) at the head of the mews with dual entrances, both inside the gates and on Holloway Road.

Beginning with The Gatehouse, the 2,423ft² building has a classic Victorian high street flavour with its twin shop front spaces on the ground floor (one café, one retail) and two floors of upper parts, each with restored sash windows and grit-blasted brickwork.

Heading deeper in to the development you encounter the Mews building with its stack of three long spaces atop each other that total 5,728ft². With plenty of industrial crittal windows, loading bay doors and Georgian iron radiators, there’s a real workshop ambience that culminates in a remarkable top floor with exposed timber trusses and an enormous amount of atmosphere.

All of the upper floors in both the Gatehouse and Mews buildings have been let to Blink Productions – an award-winning British commercial and music video production company behind some of the most memorable TV creations.

Finally, at the end of the mews you reach the Warehouse, with its three vast open spaces – each between 4,200ft² and 5,600ft² – that total almost 15,000ft² connected by a commercial goods lift. Here you could really imagine a sensational office, performance, events or rehearsal space, not least on the top floor with its soaring vaulted roofline that is tall enough for a mezzanine level beneath its exposed timbers and steel trusses.

The Billiard Factory sits between Holloway, Archway, Tufnell Park and Finsbury Park meaning there's lots of transport nearby including the Piccadilly Line at Holloway Road and The Overground at Upper Holloway, both within a 10-minute walk. There are numerous bus routes along Holloway Road while cyclists are catered for with secure bike storage on site.