Thanks for this, Jamie. Somewhat ungratefully, I was going to pick further at that 'supposed hegemony'. In my sense of the current 'avant-garde' scene in London, there are obviously clusters of practitioners around Royal Holloway, Birkbeck, and Roehampton (for example), and this is embodied in various events organised in these institutions. However, most of the poetry readings in London take place outside the institutions: Jeff Hilson's Xing the Line or SJ Fowler's various projects seem to me to be apart from the official institutions, though both individuals have university affiliations.  Writers Forum, the most influential of the London 'avant-garde' poetry institutions, has always been outside the university system, and there are a number of less well-known reading series (like those run by Mischa Foster Poole and others) which are outside the academy. The field of  'avant garde' publication (presses and magazines) - with the exception of Veer press - is  also largely outside the academy. One more thing: after a certain point, one of the features of 'avant-garde' publication is that influence is generally in inverse relation to age. No country for old men.