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Cruel to throw antiques dealers out of The Mall
• I AM amazed that in the current financial climate London Associated Properties (LAP) would throw all the dealers out of The Mall in Camden Passage, Islington – a couple of months before Christmas (Count me out says jeweller as Mall shuts, October 3).
This was not only cruel and stupid but, considering that it is going to leave the building empty, it was done for no apparent reason.
I can only guess that
LAP was fed up being bombarded with so much opposition from residents, politicians and people in the antiques trade.
If it thinks it is going to get a quiet public inquiry when its plan comes up to strip the interior of the building in December than it is in for a big surprise.
I hope readers will
mark in their diaries that the inquiry will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 9 and 10, at 10am
in The Crescent Suite Highbury, 70 Ronalds Road, Highbury.
The public can attend.
Mike Weedon
Camden Passage, N1
• THE Mall antiques centre was famous across the world, and its closure was a very sad day for Islington, and indeed London. I had hoped this outcome could be avoided, but unfortunately the developers seem more interested in making a fast buck.
Islington Council has fought tooth and nail against the closure of The Mall and rejected its owner’s plans to rip out the small shops loved by so many.
We urged The Mall’s owner to let traders stay at least until a final decision is made on the building’s future in a few months’ time, but sadly our pleas seem to have been ignored.
Our fight for The Mall is not finished – the council has refused listed building consent to change the building’s interior.
This is now the subject of a planning appeal that will be heard in December, and we will be making a strong defence of our decision.
I wish the antiques traders all the best for the future. They will be sorely missed in Islington.
Cllr James Kempton
Lib Dem leader, Islington Council |
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