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Camden News - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 24 July 2008

Street hails estate agency snub

CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed the rejection of plans for another estate agents’ office in a Kentish Town street where they say there are already too many.
Costa Mavrokordatos and his brother Anthony, who run an agency from a first-floor office in Camden Town, wanted to set up a branch in an empty shop in Kentish Town Road.
Residents believe the street has too many estate agents and late-night takeaways and not enough shops. Planning officials were recently called on to survey the street in an effort to try to maintain a mix of shops.
At Thursday’s planning meeting the estate agents’ application was rejected on the casting vote of the six-member panel’s chairman, Conservative councillor Roger Freeman.
The decision was welcomed by residents, who say the road has 10 estate agents already and the stretch needs more independent retailers.
Residents’ groups which objected to the plans included Kentish Town Road Action, Leighton Road Neighbourhood Association and Inkerman Area Residents Association. They said a new estate agent was the last thing the street needed.
Kentish Town Road Action campaigner Caroline Hill said the decision was vital to keep the southern end of the shopping street viable.
She added: “I am delighted – this is fantastic news. Another estate agent is the last thing we need. There are too many in the street already.”
Mr Mavrokordatos, who has run the business for two years, said: “Not only is the shop empty, but frankly it is a dump along there. We would have put something there that would have looked nice and brought people in.
“There is no way this would not have improved the area.”
He added: “We were proposing to do something positive for that stretch, which needs it, and we were turned down on grounds that are not really clear. I am frustrated by this and disillusioned. It has cost my business a fair amount in terms of lost revenue and time.”

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