Out with the Old... Network Rail tell businesses to vacate Atlantic Road arches

[Winot]

Sad news: A&C Continental aka the Portuguese Deli are closing. Not sure when, but staff have been let go and they are running down stock. It sounds like the key factors are increased charges for using pavement and uncertainty about future, coupled with a feeling that low scale food retail doesn't have much of a future.

 

[editor]

Sad news: A&C Continental aka the Portuguese Deli are closing. Not sure when, but staff have been let go and they are running down stock. It sounds like the key factors are increased charges for using pavement and uncertainty about future, coupled with a feeling that low scale food retail doesn't have much of a future.

He told me some time ago that he was thinking of throwing in the towel, due to a combination of factors: the stress of the ongoing battle with Network Rail, the uncertainty about being able to pay future rents and a changing demographic which is less interested in their stock. I doubt if having Brindisa opening up has helped either. It's a crying shame.

 

[madolesance]

I doubt Brindisa could be directly blamed for their 'throwing the towel in'.

 

[Greebo]

Sad news: A&C Continental aka the Portuguese Deli are closing. Not sure when, but staff have been let go and they are running down stock. <snip>

It just doesn't seem right.

 

[leanderman]

Fishmonger expects to be charged £60k-£70k pa after the NRail refurb - treble what they pay now

They'd also need to refit the shop.

It will be impossible for them to carry on.

 

[organicpanda]

so does this mean NR and our co operative council have got their way? or does the fight still go on

 

[footballerslegs]

So sad.

 

[friendofdorothy]

Sad news: A&C Continental aka the Portuguese Deli are closing. Not sure when, but staff have been let go and they are running down stock. It sounds like the key factors are increased charges for using pavement and uncertainty about future, coupled with a feeling that low scale food retail doesn't have much of a future.

shame.

 

[editor]

I doubt Brindisa could be directly blamed for their 'throwing the towel in'.

I certainly didn't suggest that.

 

[friendofdorothy]

I certainly didn't suggest that.

you said

I doubt if having Brindisa opening up has helped either.

No need to squabble.

 

[Ms T]

Sad news: A&C Continental aka the Portuguese Deli are closing. Not sure when, but staff have been let go and they are running down stock. It sounds like the key factors are increased charges for using pavement and uncertainty about future, coupled with a feeling that low scale food retail doesn't have much of a future.

I dis suspect that might be the case when I saw they were running down their stock. Gutted.

 

[Gramsci]

Sad news: A&C Continental aka the Portuguese Deli are closing. Not sure when, but staff have been let go and they are running down stock. It sounds like the key factors are increased charges for using pavement and uncertainty about future, coupled with a feeling that low scale food retail doesn't have much of a future.

He was also one of the main people opposing the loss of the shops. Sadly I wonder if this is the start of the end now.

I always liked that shop. Even if not going in I liked to see it as I cycled by. Its a loss.

 

[prunus]

Fishmonger expects to be charged £60k-£70k pa after the NRail refurb - treble what they pay now

They'd also need to refit the shop.

It will be impossible for them to carry on.

Which one? Is it Mash's?

 

[cuppa tee]

is this

increased charges for using pavement

for real ?
....... meanwhile Councillor jacko goes large on the councils support for local business New support for local businesses in Lambeth

 

[bimble]

I

Which one? Is it Mash's?

yes, this one.
Great fish shop.

 

[prunus]

I

yes, this one.
Great fish shop.
View attachment 76641

That's a crying shame, great fish shop, as you say.

Is there still momentum in the fightback, or are NR basically winning by inertia?

 

[editor]

That's a crying shame, great fish shop, as you say.

Is there still momentum in the fightback, or are NR basically winning by inertia?

I suspect cold, hard financial self interest will always triumph. Throw in a useless council and a changing demographic that has less interest in supporting these shops, and you're looking at one tough battle.

 

[snowy_again]

Out of interest, why do you think a changing demographic not support a good deli and a good fishmongers who've been there for years?

Are A&C looking to move somewhere else local?

 

[editor]

Out of interest, why do you think a changing demographic not support a good deli and a good fishmongers who've been there for years?

Talk to A&C and ask them how their trade has been going in recent years. They'd already laid off most of their staff months ago because of falling sales. You must have noticed that, right?

Are A&C looking to move somewhere else local?

I heard that they're closing for good.

 

[djdando]

Talk to A&C and ask them how their trade has been going in recent years. They'd already laid off most of their staff months ago because of falling sales. You must have noticed that, right?I heard that they're closing for good.

Massive shame. I really think the inability to pay by credit/debit card stops people shopping in most places. Businesses should be charged less for accepting card payments. Problem is card payments 'are on the books' whereas cash isn't!!!!!

 

[Winot]

Massive shame. I really think the inability to pay by credit/debit card stops people shopping in most places. Businesses should be charged less for accepting card payments. Problem is card payments 'are on the books' whereas cash isn't!!!!!

A&C have taken cards for a few years.

 

[aussw9]

Talk to A&C and ask them how their trade has been going in recent years. They'd already laid off most of their staff months ago because of falling sales. You must have noticed that, right?I heard that they're closing for good.

Strange that their sales have been declining. Its a quality deli and I would have thought a demographic with more disposable cash would have spent money there.

Absolute shame, without a doubt one of my faviourite shops in Brixton.

 

[Winot]

They introduced some more upmarket (expensive) stock a year or so back and I assumed that was in response to the changing demographic.

The impression Mrs Winot got was that they didn't see a long term future for food retail and that the recent threats tipped the balance.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Out of interest, why do you think a changing demographic not support a good deli and a good fishmongers who've been there for years?

To put it bluntly, for A&C I reckon a big part of the problem is branding. We know Mash and A&C are fantastic, but incomers are likely to choose Brindisa over A&c on the basis of it being a (in terms of delis) a well-known brand.
As for fishmongers, I think Mash are on the receiving end of the same problem the fishmonger shops and market stall on Northcote Rd had 25-30 years ago: The (mostly middle-class) newcomers to the area thought that open shops selling wet fish were insanitary, and purchased from supermarkets instead. IIRC Northcote Road went from two shops and a stall, to a single shop in a couple of years, where previously they were busy-busy-busy, not least because they didn't just cater for typical Londoner "nice piece of lemon sole and somes prats" tastes, but for the significant Afro-Caribbean and "Asian" minorities too (just as Mash do). As that customer base shrinks - whether that's because of "black flight" to Forntneef and beyond, or because of "gentrification" - and isn't replaced (something the "dining out" culture doesn't help, I suspect), there's nowhere really for Mash to go, with the threat of such a large rent increase (plus the issues with their cold storage, which might very well have to be replaced in any new site, or even the refurbished current site).

 

[ViolentPanda]

Strange that their sales have been declining. Its a quality deli and I would have thought a demographic with more disposable cash would have spent money there.

Absolute shame, without a doubt one of my faviourite shops in Brixton.

I think there have also been some changes in the volume and type of foot traffic past the arches shops. Fewer impulse buyers just popping in for a custard tart or similar can make a big difference to your weekly take.

 

[Gramsci]

is this for real ?
....... meanwhile Councillor jacko goes large on the councils support for local business New support for local businesses in Lambeth

Its this parallel Nu Labour universe that Cllr Jacko lives in that gets me.

With POP Brixton, Brixton Works and various other initiatives across the borough we are helping local businesses find the space to grow and develop. With Funding Circle they will have the finance they need, employing local people along the way and having a mechanism to give back to those following them on the path to success.

The thing is the Council never was interested in the existing small business in the arches. ( I am seeing the same in LJ).

I read this article in Brixton Blog about GLA looking into how the Brixton BID is working.

In it Council officer says:

Tom Bridgman of Lambeth council’s regeneration team told the committee that the council was developing three significant projects:

The town hall scheme to save money to invest back into services and provide enterprise space; 300 new homes and a theatre in Somerleyton Road; and
Brixton Central (where the old Popes Road car park was) with space for 600 new jobs.

“The BID is vital to the work on that,” he said

The Brixton Central site is owned by Council and Network Rail. Network Rail in the Councils eyes are going to bring in a lot of inward investment into Brixton. The Council Regeneration dept are , from this quote, still working with NR on the Brixton Central site.

The shopkeepers in the arches are to be sacrificed to the greater good of "regeneration".

I also think the Council are also afraid of upsetting NR.

I am not clear from the article what Brixton BIDs position on all this is.

 

[Gramsci]

I do feel for the shopkeepers in the arches. From what happened to me and my community at Carlton Mansions I can understand the pressure they are under.

NR will also be approaching them individually which increases the pressure.

I can understand that some of the shopkeepers are likely to be weighing up the pros and cons of continuing. Is it worth fighting on when one is likely , to be realistic , lose in the long run.

The shopkeepers have had a lot of support from public but thats not enough unfortunately.

NR are acting like any other property developer. They have ownership and dont give a shit.

 

[editor]

I am not clear from the article what Brixton BIDs position on all this is.

It seems particularly cruel that some of the shopkeepers were legally compelled to hand over their money to the Brixton BID when their response seems to have been so spectacularly ineffective.

 

[organicpanda]

would be interesting to se the results of a study nationwide where BIDs have been imposed to see how the shopkeepers have benefitted from them, I know it's not just round here that they have gone down like a cup of cold sick

 

[Mr Retro]

The deli is closed now. Hope it's not gone already?