‘Save our health shop’ campaign - ‘Clone’ fears for Hampstead
Published: 08 September 2011
by SIMON WROE
HAMPSTEAD High Street is in danger of becoming a “clone town” as independent shops are driven out by “crippling” rents and business rates, a conservation group has claimed.
Heath and Hampstead Society member Jessica Learmond-Criqui, an employment lawyer who has acted for Stephanie Booth – the stepmother of Cherie Booth, QC – is spearheading a campaign to save small businesses in the area after the Hampstead Health Shop announced it is likely to close because it cannot pay the rent.
The shop currently pays £38,000 in council business rates and £70,000 a year to landlord Prudential Property Investment Management (PRUPIM).
The Society has started a “Save Our High Street” petition calling for rents to be reduced for small traders before businesses are forced to close or are replaced by high street chains.
They are also asking PRUPIM to suspend a court summons for arrears filed against the health shop owner, Surya Jasani, known to locals as “Sue”.
Ms Learmond-Criqui said: “We have six mobile phone shops in Hampstead now. We don’t need this. We don’t want a clone town. As a community we’ve got to stop this.
“Sue has provided a vital role in this community for 26 years and she’s much loved. We don’t want her to be sidelined for a mobile phone shop or a high street chain.”
The health shop, which has been on the high street for nearly three decades, is the latest in a string of businesses to face closure in Hampstead, while a number of properties on Heath Street have stood empty for several years.
Ms Learmond-Criqui said the Society had been “concerned for some time by the decline” of the high street, but that the threatened closure of the health shop had been the “touch paper” for action.
Ms Jasani, 70, will appear in Central London County Court next week. It is expected she will cease trading immediately afterwards.
The Heath and Hampstead Society, which has more than 6,000 members, will deliver the petition to PRUPIM the day before the hearing.
A spokesman for Prudential Property said it was “not appropriate to discuss the case with third parties prior to the court hearing”.
The Society petition can be found online at www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveourhampsteadhighstreet
Comments
Sue from Hampstead
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2011-09-09 08:41.One of hampstead's strengths is indeed that it feels like a village and not like many of UK's villages, been yet destroed by the 'clone' chain shops where individuality is lost, and the appeal consequently. It is great the community is stepping up to support Sue.
I have lived in Hampstead area for 20 years this Autumn and have shopped in Sue's shop regularly. I truly wish the shop will continue under the guidance of Sue.
Sincerely
Ms Satu Jaatinen
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