East London has long been considered the centre of the London art world but as several galleries move more central we ask, is East London’s art scene dead?

There was a time when you couldn’t walk down Bethnal Green’s Vyner Street without seeing a new gallery popping up. The area quickly became one of the most exciting places for art lovers, dealers and enthusiasts to visit and the art boom spread to neighbouring Brick Lane and Hackney areas like wild fire.

However over the past few months we’ve seen a number of galleries fleeing Vyner Street in favour of the Fitzrovia area of Central London. Just this week Fred [London] and Nettie Horn became the latest galleries to up sticks siting rising rent prices in East London as their main reason for moving Central. So what does this mean for the local art scene?

Well not good things unfortunately. An area that was once one of the only areas of London to discover new and independent talent is now being rivaled by several other London boroughs.

And it isn’t just the recent influx of galleries and art types to Fitzrovia that’s causing it to be dubbed the new art centre of London. The area recently announced its Fitzrovia Lates series of events in conjunction with the Haunch of Venison gallery. On the last Thursday of every month the areas galleries will host late night exhibitions and events for London’s art lovers. Proving to be another nail in the artistic coffin that is East London.