"It wasn't because they weren't listening – it was because they weren't educated. Once that penny drops, they're super helpful."
Ewan Buck
Tired of running yourself into the ground?
Then stop running alone.
On February 24th, the London Coworking Assembly presents Unreasonable Connection Goes Live!—a one-day working session for the people running London’s most vital neighbourhood spaces and the public sector allies working to help them thrive.
It’s a day to share the load, find real solutions, and build a new playbook, together.
Ewan Buck has been working on Contingent Works since 2018. The space opened on Bromley High Street in late 2020, weeks before England’s second lockdown.
For the first four years, the council didn’t get it.
Not because they were hostile. Because they’d never seen what a coworking space actually does. They work in dull corporate offices. They don’t know what it looks like when freelancers and micro-businesses find each other, share leads, and build something together.
So Ewan did what Gerald from a Brixton coworking assembly told him worked: he educated them. Slowly. Persistently. For four years.
He dragged councillors into the space. He introduced them to members. He let them see faces light up over laptop screens on a Friday afternoon when central London offices sat empty.
Then the personnel changed. Someone new arrived in the department and asked the obvious question: “Oh, you’ve got a coworking space on the high street? That’s really handy.”
Once the penny dropped, they were super helpful.
Now Contingent Works runs an accelerator programme with Goldsmiths University. Ten scaling companies get monthly mentoring. Regular networking events bring local businesses together. The MP is scheduled to visit in February.
But here’s the part that stopped Bernie mid-conversation:
A member, Jack, wrote to the MP. Without telling Ewan. Without being asked.
“I don’t know why you’re not here. I don’t know why you don’t support this place. It’s absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t work without this place.”
The parliamentary office responded.
That’s what four years of patient, connected, ecosystem-minded work actually produces. Not just a profitable space. A space that people fight for.
Timeline Highlights
[01:34] “I like to be known as a connector, someone who connects people together.”
[02:20] Bromley’s identity: London borough since ‘68, but “the post office couldn’t be bothered to change all the codes.”
[04:23] Why “Contingent Works”: “We wanted to align ourselves with disruptors that embrace the new.”
[05:49] The toilet wall photo and Simon Barker’s response: “I’ve made it from the gutter to the toilet.”
[07:04] How Ewan met his co-founder, Stephen, at the school gates of David Bowie’s old primary school. “We sat in all the chairs, hoping it might be in the same chair.”
[09:56] Discovering Soho Radio: “Someone must have thought this is a great idea. I’m just going to do it.”
[11:34] On London changing: “Cities always change... Maybe people take fewer risks. I don’t know.”
[14:45] Gerald’s lesson from Brixton: “It wasn’t because they weren’t listening – it was because they weren’t educated.”
[14:55] “Once that penny drops, they’re super helpful.”
[16:11] What the council partnership produced: “An accelerator hub with Goldsmith University... a really tight cohort of 10 companies that are all scaling.”
[17:33] “That took four years. More importantly, it took a change of leadership in the council.”
[18:15] “You need a backer. You need an advocate in the council to help you.”
[18:54] The method: “You have to drag them, kicking and screaming, into your space.”
[19:30] GLA team visiting on a Friday: “Oh, this is where all the people from London work.”
[22:24] Jack writes to the MP: “I don’t know why you’re not here... He did that off his own back.”
[25:30] High street reality: “2019 was the worst retail year ever... they’re going ‘Oh, we’re nearly at 2019 levels’ – forgetting that it was terrible”
[26:54] The infrastructure case: “Every single bus going through Bromley stops opposite our building.”
[29:45] What success means: “It only really works if everything around you is successful as well.”
[30:45] “You can’t just live in isolation.”
Identity as Connector
When Bernie asks what Ewan wants to be known for, he doesn’t say “successful business owner” or “coworking operator.” He says: “A connector. Someone who connects people together.”
This isn’t branding. It’s how he moves through the world. He works with the council “quite a lot” because it lets him meet other groups of people. He introduces people “in a positive way.” His value isn’t the desks – it’s the relationships.
Deep Local Roots
Ewan didn’t parachute into Bromley as a developer. He lives there. His kids go to school there. He met his co-founder Stephen at the school gates, where they discovered David Bowie had also been a pupil.
“We sat in all the chairs, hoping it might be in the same chair.”
That’s not a businessman. That’s a neighbour. And neighbours think differently about what a high street needs.
Learning From the Community
The breakthrough insight came from Gerald at a coworking assembly event in Brixton. Ewan went. He listened. Gerald explained that councils aren’t hostile – they’re uneducated. “You have to educate your councillor. They don’t understand. They don’t know what a coworker is.”
Ewan took that lesson and applied it for four years.
This is what coworking assemblies and peer networks are for. Not just moral support – tactical intelligence from people who’ve already made the mistakes.
Physical Presence as Strategy
The method is specific and replicable:
“You have to drag them, kicking and screaming, into your space. They work in an extremely dull corporate environment. It’s a council office. They’re never glamorous. They walk into somewhere like Contingent and go, ‘Oh, right. Wow. These people work here. This is amazing. It’s like a hotel lobby.”
Then, introduce them to members. Let them see what actually happens. Let them feel the energy.
The GLA team walked in on a Friday and said, “Oh, this is where all the people from London work.” That’s the moment understanding shifts.
Finding Your Advocate
Ewan is clear about what made the difference:
“More importantly, it actually took a change of leadership in the council. Not the top leaders, but in that department. It took a change of personnel in that department for someone new to come in and go, ‘Oh, you’ve got coworking space in the high street. That’s really handy.’”
And once you find that person:
“You need a backer. You need an advocate in the council to help you. As long as you can get in there and educate them, it should be a reciprocal relationship. It has proved so, so far.”
The lesson: keep educating. Keep showing up. The right person will eventually arrive.
Creating a Space Members Fight For
Jack didn’t write to the MP because Ewan asked him to. He wrote because the space mattered enough to him that he couldn’t understand why it wasn’t recognised.
“I don’t know why you’re not here. I don’t know why you don’t support this place. It’s absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t work without this place.”
You can’t manufacture that. You can only create conditions where it happens: a space so good, so connected to people’s working lives, that they advocate without being asked.
Ecosystem Thinking
Bernie asks what Ewan hopes for 2026. He doesn’t say “profitability” or “growth.” He says:
“You want things to turn over and be settled... But it only really works if everything around you is successful as well.”
And later:
“If everyone’s doing that and if we’re supported and we can all survive, then there’ll be a real buzz to the town. You’re part of something bigger. You can’t just live in isolation.”
This is why he’s a trustee of The Hub (Greener & Cleaner’s sustainability charity in the Glades). Why Contingent Works hosts Talk Club for men’s mental health. Why does he go to coworking assembly events and learns from people like Gerald?
Success isn’t Contingent on Works thriving while Bromley struggles. Success is the whole ecosystem working.
The Business Rates Context
Bernie frames this conversation against the UK’s business rates crisis – a policy mess threatening coworking spaces and the small businesses inside them.
The Valuation Office Agency is reclassifying flexible workspaces in ways that strip Small Business Rate Relief from member businesses. Operators across the country are fighting for survival.
This is where member advocacy becomes tactical. When operators lobby alone, they’re easy to ignore. When members like Jack independently write to MPs saying, “I couldn’t work without this place,” politicians pay attention.
The call to action: email your MP. But the deeper point is structural. Spaces like Contingent Works aren’t just businesses – they’re civic infrastructure. Policy that undermines them hollow out the local economies everyone claims to want.
The High Street Argument
Retail is finished. Ewan says it directly:
“2019 was the worst retail year ever. Now they’re trying to get back to post-COVID, and they’re going, ‘Oh, we’re nearly at 2019 levels’ – forgetting that it was terrible.”
So what replaces shops? Destinations. Leisure. Healthcare. Coworking.
The infrastructure argument is compelling: every bus going through Bromley stops opposite Contingent Works. They’re five minutes from a mainline station, twenty minutes from Victoria. The connectivity exists – it just needs someone willing to occupy the empty units.
Bromley is investing. A local developer has put £10 million into restoring an old hotel. The council is opening a new library in the old Topshop. But these investments only matter if the people building community infrastructure can survive long enough to benefit.
The Bromley Contingent Thread
The name isn’t marketing. It’s values.
The original Bromley Contingent were Sex Pistols fans from this south London suburb who walked through the high street in mohicans, appeared on Bill Grundy’s TV show, and accidentally birthed British punk. Siouxsie Sioux. Billy Idol. Steve Severin.
Ewan chose the name because he and Stephen “wanted to align ourselves with disruptors that embrace the new.”
The famous squat photo is blown up on the toilet wall – “cheaper than tiling.” When Ewan sent Simon Barker a picture, the reply was: “Brilliant. I’ve made it from the gutter to the toilet.”
David Bowie underpins everything. The Blitz Club. Ashes to Ashes. The cultural explosion that came from suburban misfits gathering in overlooked spaces.
The hope – unspoken but present – is that suburban coworking spaces might be where the next version of that happens. Not Zone 1. Bromley. Places are cheap enough and overlooked enough for connection to happen.
Links & Resources
Ewan’s Work
Contingent Works – Bromley High Street
Bromley Contingent & Blitz Club
Documentary: Blitzed! The 80s Blitz Kids’ Story (2021) – Sky Arts
Book: Blitz: The Club That Created the Eighties by Robert Elms (Faber, 2025)
Community Resources Mentioned
Talk Club – Men’s mental health charity; hosted at Contingent Works
Greener & Cleaner / The Hub – Sustainability charity, The Glades
Soho Radio – Independent London station
ACTionism Film – Documentary on collective action
Industry & Advocacy
FlexSA – UK Flexible Space Association; business rates campaign
Projects & Community
Join this and other conversations with people in the LinkedIn Coworking Group
Unreasonable Connection Monthly online gatherings for Coworking Community Builders.
Bernie’s Projects
One More Thing
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