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Going: Cavours
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Shop priced out after 44 years
Parade ‘cornerstone’ will shut after 44 years
A RENT rise is blamed for the closure of a family business in Highgate after 44 years.
Cavours hardware shop in Swain’s Lane, run by husband and wife Geoffrey and Elaine Lever, will shut in mid-March.
It is believed that Mr Lever, who did not wish to comment, had been told his rent would nearly double, although landlords maintain rises are “modest”.
Other shopkeepers say the closure decision represents the end of an era. Mr Lever’s father and mother, Terry and Anne, ran a delicatessen in the parade before their son set up his hardware store.
Neighbouring shopkeeper Gary Covington, of Covington Florists, said: “They are Mr and Mrs Swain’s Lane. You can get everything you need there. It is a truly sad day.”
Shoppers are hoping a similar, independent business will move in.
Swain’s Lane Neighbour Association chairman Michael Zagor said the area had already lost too many good businesses. He added: “The most immediate concern is we need to ensure we get a replacement that furnishes the needs of the community. We have lost a bank and a building society and other useful stores.”
The street has become known for coffee shops and cafés, and now boasts eight eateries.
Father Andrew Meldrum, vicar at St Anne’s on Highgate West Hill, feared the loss of Cavours could have a knock-on effect for other small shops.
He said: “Cavours is a north London landmark. When you suddenly need some peculiar little thing you pop in and Geoffrey has it tucked away on a shelf somewhere. Cavours is a cornerstone of Swain’s Lane. Its fate is connected to the fate of other shops on the street.”
Shops along the parade are also facing negotiations over leases. But fears that new terms may make it impossible for other shops to continue, and allow the landlord, the Earl of Listowel, to resurrect plans to redevelop the parade, have been firmly dismissed.
Charles Osbourne, a chartered surveyor working for the Earl of Listowel, said: “There are no plans to develop the parade in the foreseeable future.
“The last time the rents for shops in Swain’s Lane were reviewed was in 1993. You cannot expect after 14 years rents not to increase, and they have been modest.”
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