Rogue Artists Studios' Manchester home sold

Crusader Mill, the Manchester home of the Rogue Artists Studios art complex, has been sold to a property developer, with the studios' artists facing a move to new premises.

Rogue have inhabited three floors of Crusader Mill on Chapeltown Street in the city centre for the past fifteen years, with over a hundred artists using its mixture of project, exhibition and studio spaces. The organisation have already announced plans to relocate from their current home in the wake of the sale. The Crusader Mill building has been purchased by Capital & Centric, the property developers behind the proposed Kampus redevelopment parallel to Canal Street, as well as plans for a film studio complex in the former Littlewoods Pools building in Liverpool.

Rogue Studios was formed two decades ago, with over 100 current members. In a statement, Rogue said: "We are shocked to hear about the sale of the building we have rented for the past fifteen years. Rogue has provided working space and a cultural hub for Manchester’s burgeoning arts scene, not to mention the cultural capital which is so often used as an attraction when marketing Manchester. We are now looking to relocate and hoping a suitable building can be found."

Capital & Centric were unavailable for comment.