[2] After a difficult financial period the studios were forced to declare insolvency in 1996 and the business was bought by current owner and CEO, Viv Broughton.

[11][12] In 2010 Hackney Council controversially ordered the removal a landmark piece of street art from the wall of The Premises, a 12-foot rabbit painted the previous year by graffiti artist ROA, with the studio's consent.

[18][19] On 7 June 2007, lead singer of Razorlight, Johnny Borrell recorded a song for Friends of the Earth as part of the Big Ask Campaign in the new solar-powered studio.

[20] The Big Ask was a widely publicised political campaign designed to lobby government to introduce a climate change law which committed the UK to cutting its carbon dioxide emissions by at least three per cent every year.

The studios have been used by musicians such as Nina Simone, Arctic Monkeys, Dave Brubeck, Billy Cobham, Nick Cave, Amy Winehouse, Jamie Cullum, Al Green, Franz Ferdinand, Charlotte Church, Hot Chip, Babyshambles, Simian Mobile Disco, Oysterband, Taj Mahal, The Magic Numbers, The Infadels, Peaches, Klaxons, London Community Gospel Choir, Lady Sovereign, and many more touring and recording artists.

Musicians aren’t so good at running the café side of things – in fact, when I let them do it they always made a loss – but it makes complete sense for the studios.