Council betrays small business for £45m

John Holland strikes a disgruntled figure. Dressed in a chequered, tatty shirt, he stands at the frontier of the changes that have engulfed the helter skelter world of business in Islington.

Speaking this week to Islington Now, he is by turns angry, disconsolate and fatalistic. His optimism has been dented by years of fighting a losing battle. “It is inevitable that I will go out of business. I could earn as much money working at B and Q as I do here,” he says before pointing a customer to a mosaic-coloured carpet. “It’s upsetting to think about it. On quiet days like this, it gets you down.”

His comments come as Islington Council finalises plans to sell off £45m worth of property. Some 242 shops, warehouses and voluntary group offices are to be sold under the proposals. Local businessmen and women are up-in-arms. They say they are being priced out in an effort to raise hard cash.

A combination of competition from firms on Upper Street, who wield financial clout the handful of bakeries and bric-a-brac stores on Essex Road can only dream of, parking charges and escalating rent rates have hit the fraternity of small businesses.

“I have lost good friends. They cannot keep up with the rates. I pay £600 just to be here. It’s astronomical,” John Holland says, reclining in his chair, blue denim and advertisements for Hook & Leather hanging behind him. “In the last year, I have lost 20% of my customers. I have been fined because of the congestion charge, too. How am I supposed to deliver my stock?”

While John will not be directly affected by the council sell-off, it threatens the livelihood of many around him – his friends and neighbours on Essex Road where a string of shops will be shut down. It is set to rip the heart out of close-knit communities in Islington.

A beret-wearing employee at Haggle Vinyl expresses the exasperation that local traders feel. “Life’s tough. That’s business,” he says wearily, dismissing inquiries about the sell-off programme as “just one aspect” of a many-layered, complex problem before advising Islington Now to clear off. He has business to attend to.

Local business owner Dale Barter has set up a website against the Council plans, complete with a petition signed by over a hundred people. He is chairing a committee that rallies against the proposals and says: “This process is in favour of property developers and against diverse, eclectic local business. Why should 242 properties in Islington have one landlord. It’s positively feudal.”