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MP Glenda joins fight to save the shops
HAMPSTEAD and Highgate MP Glenda Jackson is backing
the fight to save a row of shops – including a popular
newsagent who has been serving people in Swiss Cottage for 24
years.
Developers London Merchant Securities (LMS) are preparing for
a battle against shopkeepers whose businesses are earmarked
for demolition in Winchester Road. They plan to take a petition
to the Town Hall on Friday in protest.
An application made last year by the same company caused outcry
amongst Swiss Cottage residents and workers alike when LMS failed
to consult about their plans.
LMS withdrew the plans after only one shop was included in LMS’s
new vision for a 73-flat, eight-storey block that will be sandwiched
between new flats that are being built as part of the Swiss
Cottage leisure centre development and the Taplow housing estate.
New designs submitted on December 21 – which will force
seven shops to close including a launderette, a pharmacy and
a newsagent – have sparked 200 objection letters from customers
with another 200 to be delivered this week. Husband and wife
team Pankaj and Nirmala Shah, who have run Henry’s newsagent
for 24 years, think demolishing the shops would be disastrous
for their customers, as well as their own livelihood. They said:
“The community needs us and all our customers love us”.
Glenda Jackson (pictured) – one of their 2,000 customers,
which also include Liam Gallagher and Jonathan Ross – got
involved after people living in surrounding roads and estates
visited her at her Winchester Road surgery, held at Swiss Cottage
Community Centre. Ms Jackson said: “The council are aware
that the shops are a very valuable resource”.
Mr Shah also warns that LMS have not promised any of the current
shopkeepers retail space when the development is finished.
Mrs Shah, who is also worried about how they will support themselves
during the building period, said: “We want to keep the
shop going, but it will be very difficult to come back”.
An LMS spokesperson said: “As with any redevelopment, there
will be a short period of time when we will not able to provide
retail space at Winchester Road. We are looking into the options
available to maintain certain services during this limited period
of reconstruction.
“We will be providing similar local community shops in
the new development and we would obviously show preference to
the existing retailers. We have already written to each of the
retailers asking them if they would be interested in taking
space in the new scheme. Redevelopment will take approximately
15 months”. |
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