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Mark Field MP |
New chapter in bookshop saga
MP joins campaign to save stores
MP Mark Field is ramping up a campaign to save the West End’s endangered bookshops.
The MP for Cities of London and Westminster is drafting a letter to Barbara Follett, the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, to create a sense of urgency over the spate of closures around Charing Cross Road.
He is also drawing attention to the plight of Cecil Court, the hidden enclave of specialist bookshops treasured by bibliophiles, which is proving marginally more resilient than it’s better-known neighbour.
Over the past year, crime bookshop Murder One and Shipley’s, an art bookshop, have closed, while Cecil Court has lost the counter-cultural specialist Red Snapper.
Recession aside, the strain on businesses has been magnified since the rise in business rates brought in on April 1 – effectively doubling the amount owners must pay because they had previously been benefiting from a special relief rate.
While the campaign is part of a national drive to try and halt the downwards slide of independent bookshops, Mr Field says it is “unthinkable” that the area should surrender its heritage to the spectre of coffee shops and fast food outlets.
He said: “Two shops in Cecil Court have gone out of business already this year and two antiquarian map sellers have also been lost from central London.
“Along with other businesses, Cecil Court traders have received transitional business rate relief over the past four years – but this has now ceased, resulting in an increase of approximately 35 per cent which will rise to 75 per cent.
“For the shopkeepers of Cecil Court, struggling with the cold winds of recession already, any increase will wipe out their tiny profit margin.
“Wouldn’t it be a shame if Cecil Court became yet another alleyway of chain coffee shops and fast food outlets? For bibliophiles, history wonks and London lovers alike, we must keep our specialist streets alive.” |
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