Creative Mile and The Art House to open new art studios in Brentford’s former Sega Building

27 Great West Road

Affordable studios, exhibition space and room for classes will open at 27 Great West Road this September, as Brentford’s annual art trail grows beyond a single weekend

27 Great West Road was Sega Europe’s UK headquarters for about 20 years, with a large Sonic the Hedgehog sign visible from the road. Sega moved out last year, after Areli Developments bought the site for redevelopment into homes, workspace and shops. This September, before that work starts, the ground floor will open as art studios.

Areli has made the space available for creative and wellbeing use on a meanwhile basis, for a minimum of 12 months. Creative Mile, the organisation behind Brentford’s annual art trail, and The Art House, a Wakefield-based arts charity, will offer studios for rent alongside room for exhibitions, classes and events.

Inside one of the artists’ studios on the Creative Mile trail

Mark Pearce set up Creative Mile in 2021, hoping it would ‘become an annual event that will grow year by year’. He wasn’t wrong: the following year, more than 70 artists showed work across eight venues on a route from the London Museum of Water and Steam to Johnson’s Island.

Johnson’s Island

READ ALSO: Brentford’s Creative Mile

By its fourth year, in 2024, the trail had grown to 24 stops, backed by Hounslow Council as part of the borough’s Summer of Culture programme.

READ ALSO: Walk Brentford’s ‘Creative Mile’, 30 August – 1 September.

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Following the Creative Mile art trail in Brentford

Last year’s fifth edition brought together nearly 100 artists across 25 venues, from the artists’ colony on Johnson’s Island to Boston Manor House, offered up by the council as a venue for the first time.

READ ALSO: Brentford’s Creative Mile, 29 – 31 August

The year’s theme, ‘neighbourhood’, reflected a Brentford in the middle of rapid change, and one artist on Johnson’s Island said having more than 1,200 visitors pass through in a single weekend had been ‘a shock to everyone’.

READ ALSO: 2025 Summer festivals – Brentford’s Creative Mile art trail

Mark Pearce, Creative Mile director, said the studios were a chance for the organisation ‘to expand its scope beyond an annual weekend festival.

‘We are looking forward to working on this project with a focus on providing affordable art studios for locally based creatives and developing a programme of events and activities over the 12 months the space will be available,’ he said.

Lucy Juniper, co executive director of The Art House, said the partnership was ‘a huge step’ for the charity.

‘The Art House was established 30 years ago with an aim to make artists’ spaces accessible and welcoming to everyone … we wanted to work with a locally based arts organisation who has connections within the area and particularly with local creatives. That’s why we are so excited to be partnering with Creative Mile,’ she said.

This year’s trail, running from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 September, also sees Creative Mile partner with the National Gallery for the first time.

Reproductions of works from the national collection will be displayed across Brentford as part of an outdoor exhibition, Art on Your Doorstep, running from 4 September until 14 February 2027.

The building at 27 Great West Road will be open for public tours during the Creative Mile weekend, at midday, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September. Anyone interested in a studio, or in running classes or sessions there, can register via the Creative Mile mailing list at creativemile.org.