A NEW VENUE on the canal in Haggerston has taken a novel approach to a rival immediately across the water.

In palce of the usual business competition, the Proud Archivist, a bar, restaurant, gallery and events space, is giving job opportunities to trainee porters from the Waterhouse, the superbly fitted social-enterprise restaurant opposite.

Co-operation can cut costs. The Hoxton Apprentice, a similar concept restaurant, which trained youths to cook, failed in January this year, 2013, to balance the books.

Hector Proud, managing director of Cult, the company behind the Proud Archivist, told Loving Dalston he had set up co-operative arrangements with other businesses in the area.

The Proud Archivist would offer a programme of “everything from art, comedy, children’s club, quizzes, literature, music, satire and cabaret to history walks, inspirational talks, food and drink events and singles yoga”.

Another socially minded project is the Shoreditch Village Hall, which opened in Hoxton this month. It offers shared workspaces, a café, small-business support and events space that community groups that qualify can use without charge.

Hamish Scott 121113 

* The Proud Archivist, 2 Hertford Road (off Kingsland Road) N1 5ET, open daily, 8am-10.30pm. The  first exhibition, The Gathering Storm – the album art of Storm Thorgerson, ends Saturday 2 December 2013. Picture at top shows Alan Stewart, chef at the Proud Archivist.

* Backstory: Shoreditch Village Hall, 33 Hoxton Square N1 6NN

* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.