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A motor repairs boss today hit out at the “arty types” he says are colonising east London as he prepared to leave his business of two decades to make way for a craft brewery.

When Michael Vallance came to Queens Yard industrial estate in Hackney Wick in 1992 it was home to lithographic printers and finishers and a glass factory.

Now he fears traditional firms, such as his MV Motor Repairs, are being pushed out for the likes of flexible event spaces and pop-ups, from which higher rents can be demanded.

Mr Vallance, 57, must make way for the Crate Brewery, which already runs a brewery, bar and pizzeria in a canal-side unit on the industrial estate and which will use his unit for storage.

He had earlier survived a £27,000 rent rise after the estate’s square-footage shot up in value.

Leyton-born Mr Vallance, a grandfather of three, said: “I lost 28 grand during the Olympics, there were six armed police with machine guns and this place was almost a no-go zone.

“But I’ve got a born instinct to survive.

“I’d just got over that and a year later these arty types started moving in.

“The landlord’s agents, Pearl & Coutts, told me I was an exemplary client, but in December 2013 they said that due to the current market my annual rent was going up from £40,000 to £67,200.

“They told me that the area had changed and I was on a very low rent here compared to what they could get. I nearly collapsed, I felt like they had just shot me.”

Mr Vallance arranged a year-long deal to work his way up from £40,000 rent to £50,000 and then to £67,200.

But last autumn he was told the lease would not be renewed. He fears for the jobs of his eight staff as he temporarily relocates to premises in Canning Town one eighth of the size.

Pearl & Coutts, agents for freeholder Hatton Garden Properties Ltd, said Mr Vallance’s lease had “come to a natural end”.

The Islington-based firm’s director, Nick Watson, said: “The regeneration of the area has led to a marked increase in the rental levels for all types of properties.

“Mr Vallance confirmed he would not be able to meet what would now be a fair market rent and decided he would have to relocate his business. We have assisted Mr Vallance by allowing him extra time to vacate.”

The directors of Crate Brewery said: “We have been offered unit eight on Queens Yard by Pearl & Coutts on a one-year licence term only.

“As such we are planning on using the unit for storage and general running of the business.

“Much like the rest of Hackney Wick we are having to work with the long-term objectives for the area, which involves the transfer of buildings from light-industrial to more residential purpose.”

The Olympic Park Legacy Company was granted planning permission by Tower Hamlets council to change a neighbouring warehouse’s type of use from general industrial to business, which includes studios, an events space and a café.