Spotify Opens New Research Hub In London, Adding 300 Jobs: Photos

Spotify has opened a new research and development hub in London -- the streaming company's first major technology centre outside of the U.S. and its home country of Sweden. 

Located in the Adelphi Building, near the Strand, the offices are spread over 100,000 sq. ft and five floors. 

At present, Spotify has around 260 staff based in its central London Argyll Street offices. They will all move to the new premises later this year. An additional 300 jobs will be created by the opening of the new research and development hub, says the company, which has 96 million paid subscribers and announced its first-ever quarterly profit of €94 million ($107 million) in February. 

Spotify's global workforce, as of Sept. 30, was 4,165 full-time employees and contractors. The company said its decision to grow its U.K. operations and set up a R&D team in the British capital reflected the city's wealth of tech talent across engineering, design, data and research.  

"The U.K. is famous all over the world for the musical talent that originates here and the strength of the music industry here," said Spotify UK managing director Tom Connaughton. "As one of Spotify's biggest markets, it makes perfect sense to expand our team here, and to tap into the large and diverse talent pool to be found in London," he added.

Last year, Facebook announced that it was to double the size of its London office space to accommodate up to 6,000 staff in the city's once run-down, now thriving King's Cross district, also home to the U.K. offices of Universal Music and, from 2021, Sony Music. 

Google's U.K. offices are also located in King's Cross, where the tech giant is building a new £1 billion 'Landscaper' campus that will be home to around 4,500 employees.

"London is the best place in Europe for tech companies to find a wealth of diverse talent," said London mayor Sadiq Khan, calling Spotify's expansion "a further sign that London is open to ground-breaking technology."