Shopping

Are we happy with the mix of shops in the area? Do some shops need protection from being turned into flats? What do you think the neighbourhood plan should say about shopping? This is what you said:

  1. ‘Lots of furniture shops’ +1

  2. ‘Not Broadway Market’ +5

  3. ‘No hipsters please’

  4. ‘No big chain supermarkets’ +9 ‘Except Co-op?’

  5. ‘Make sure CRTRA engages all businesses’

  6. ‘Nice permanent bakery’

  7. ‘Too many shops are being closed because of hipster shops which serve no purpose

  8. to locals whatsoever’

  9. ‘Expand the market on Sundays’ +2

  10. ‘Evening opening/night time economy’ +6

  11. ‘Retaining and protecting small shops and businesses  – restrict unit sizes’ +1

  12. ‘Bring back the nice wine bar’ +1

  13. ‘I can’t afford anything on the market.  It’s just souvenir cakes and expensive soap!’ +1

  14. ‘Why are pawn shops mushrooming?’  ‘Yes why?’ +2

  15. ‘Varied high street’ +3

  16. ‘Needs to be for everyone local. Not a destination’ +3

  17. ‘Round chapel can be a problem – ensure don’t go too late’ -1

  18. ‘All about balance’ +2

  19. ‘Vietnamese restaurant on Chatsworth Road’ +7

  20. ‘Free cash machines.’ ‘Definitely.’ +6

  21. ‘No to tesco, costa, nando’s, chains’ +2

  22. ‘No betting shops.’ -> ‘Keep them, don’t get rid of every local character.’

  23. ‘We want the post office back.’ +2

  24. ‘Too many expensive coffee shops – 1 is bad enough  – don’t need 4 on the same street.’

  25. ‘No night economy, if you want to go out go to Brick Lane’

  26. ‘2011 census data  – 20%population increases. Making chats more vibrant. Let’s keep it balanced and special.’

  27. ‘I like the market, i like the diversity of stalls. Grow it, include more stalls but keep the diversity and creativity.’

  28. ‘Palm 2 meets organic – slightly cheaper than l’epicerie.’

  29. ‘Sunday market stalls far too expensive – £30 admin for licence (6 moths) £30 pitch £25 for canopy. Too much.’  +1

  30. ‘Building itself is special’ – pointing at the snooker hall.

  31. ‘Stalls and shops that are useful and affordable for local people without having to merely rely on people who are wealthier/trendier’ +3

  32. ‘Stop making it a trendy destination – people live, grow, die here’ +3

  33. ‘More cheap eating places to sit in. (But not fancy)’ +1

  34. ‘Affordable homely food’ +3 ‘(RIP Chatsworth kitchen)

  35. ‘new pub at tyre shop’

  36. ‘limit restaurant/cafe designations and you push up rent’

  37. ‘Need pubs/cafes where people who don’t want to be surrounded by children can go’ +1

  38. ‘No more betting shops’ +3

  39. ‘i would like the green grocers to be like Newington Greens’ ‘ie: longer opening hours’ +1

  40. ‘Pub for here’ +3  arrow pointing at corner of Dunlace and Chats

  41. ‘more places to eat open on a sunday night would be great’

  42. ‘Too many takeaways and betting shops’ +1 ‘No, keep them’

  43. ‘Variety of shops’ +1

  44. ‘Free cash machine on Chatsworth Road’ +12

  45. ‘Fresh produce and discounted rates for people on benefits’ +2

  46. ‘How many of each use?’

  47. ‘No night economy: Homerton/Clapton are the one place where we can have peace and quiet.  I like brick lane to stay where it is not expand to here’ +2

  48. ‘Chatsworth Road needs and good pub’ +1

  49. ‘Who needs brands, ie fashion hub. Why is the money going to them and not the Narrow Way??’ ‘yes’

  50. ‘Car boot sale. 🙂 (cheap)’

  51. ‘Get hospital and employers to be more involved not just drive in and out’

  52. ‘Peoples supermarket – revised project’ ‘Snooker hall as a candidate’

  53. ‘Council to collect rates to encourage landlords to rent or sell empty properties’ +4

  54. ‘More things open in the evening  – will make safer to be  out’ +5

  55. ‘More fresh produce on the market’

  56. ‘No more antique shops’ +1

  57. ‘Dentists and funeral directors good’

  58. ‘Zones for market – food area’

  59. ‘Quotas on uses?’

  60. ‘Evening economy’ +2 -1

  61. ‘Protect Senioritas’ ‘Don’t’ +1

  62. ‘Fish shop, a1’ +3

  63. ‘Variety is a good thing but we need new money, wealth will trickle down’ ‘Wealth doesn’t trickle down, it prices out. If you let in big business it will force people out’

  64. ‘Pedestrianise Chats Road on market day’ +3

  65. No resi on ground floor

  66. ‘Flea market’ -3 ‘Yes to cheapness’

  67. Protect more of Chatsworth Road as a shopping district’ +3

  68. ‘Should be serving locals’ ‘We are all locals’ ‘No, some of you aren’t’

  69. ‘Keep and enhance glaziers, radiators, hardware’

  70. ‘Too many betting shops already’ ‘No’ ‘No more betting shops’ +7

  71. ‘We need more pubs’ +1 ‘Family friendly pub’

  72. ‘Market should be managed by locals’ ‘Yes’ +2

  73. ‘Get rid of betting shops’ ‘No, keep them’ +9 ‘Some of them anyway’

  74. ‘Protection for Local corner shops and increase accessibility of healthy food’ +1

  75. ‘Better shops on Homerton High St. itself’ +1

  76. ‘Less pizza, more japanese food’ ‘less pizza definitely’

  77. ‘Make shops that have good food that is affordable’ +2 ‘Agree, bread should not cost £4, like at some local delis’

  78. ‘Marketing advice!’

  79. ‘More affordable shops’ +1

  80. ‘Good butchers and fish shop’ +5

  81. ‘Manage market like West Norwood Feast’

  82. ‘Need another dentist, free cash machine, post office, pub, fish shop, enlarge market’ +3

  83. ‘Turn Chats market into a social enterprise. Gear it more towards local people not tourists’

  84. ‘Tables and chairs out on Market Day (traffic diverted) so you can stay around eat, drink, chat while market is going’

  85. ‘Decent butcher and fishmonger’ ‘there already is one’

  86. ‘Getting better’

  87. ‘No more betting shops please!!’

  88. ‘Beware over gentrification’ ‘What is that?’

  89. ‘A florist would be good’ +1

  90. ‘Good social friendly feel to the shops and street. Must retain. Great not having chains.’

  91. ‘A little bit smug’ +3

  92. ‘Really miss having a cobbler on Chats Road, would be nice to see one again’

  93. ‘Keep shops on Chast Road independent – no chains please!’

  94. ‘Pedestrainise for the market on sundays’

  95. ‘Do not pedestrianise market on Sunday, too many roads already closed permanently’

  96. ‘Great, more please!’

  97. ‘Could be open later – more evening shopping/restaurant activity?’

  98. ‘Just love it. Such an improvement in the areafrom when i moved in 25 years ago.  then it was unsafe with lots of empty shops’

  99. ‘Too Sweet  – good at bringing together – more shops that do it.’

  100. ‘Grown ups book shop’

  101. ‘Use empty shops!! Please.  Temporary/pop-ups. We need need fishmonger flowershop good butcher – sorry mighty meats!’

  102. ‘Restaurants/school markets brings community together – much more like a village’

  103. ‘Diversity, maintaining existing and building on’

  104. ‘Market extended and pedestrianised’ ‘No’ ‘artists in (or start-ups) empty shops’

  105. ‘No more massage parlours’

  106. ‘We need a pub on Chatsowrth Road – somewhere as a hub for the community around here’

  107. ‘Good mix of shops – don’t move too much in irection of middle class!’

  108. ‘ Stop ruining buildings/shops of local interest (bakery!)  +1

  109. ‘Free cash point’ +2

  110. ‘Please close Chatsworth Road one day a week on Market Day – cars go fast’ +1 ‘No’

  111. ‘Was more hospital trade before parking restrictions – make it from from 6pm’

  112. ‘Need a bakers on Homerton High Street’

  113. ‘How do you define a High St? Homerton Road could do with an identity/range of shops/support to ‘tidy up’ frontage’

  114. ‘Grubby Grotty Homerton High Street’ ‘Needs facelift – some good shops there’

  115. ‘Close road on Sundays for Market’ +1 ‘No’

  116. ‘Really nice that there are no chains! Yay for no starbucks’ +2

  117. ‘ Need to hold on to cheaper eating places – even the chicken shops’

  118. ‘ A garden centre would be useful (not a super expensive one!) in Millfiedls Park?’ ‘Great idea’

  119. ‘Definitely need a gastro pub!!! Please!! Locally on Chatsworth Road’ +1 ‘No’

  120. ‘Empty shops should be made available for meanwhile space type use  – opp. for new businesses to road test their ideas – encourage local entrepreneurs!’

  121. ‘Betting shops to take more responsibility for what happens outside their premises. eg: street parties at night’

  122. ‘Public Toilets please’

  123. ‘Tails off as you get closer to marshes’

  124. ‘Love to get rid of betting shops’

  125. ‘Need to protect ordinary shops! No more cafes!’ +1

  126. ‘Independent quality butcher + fishmonger’

  127. ‘Would like a good butcher + fishmonger (selling sustainably sourced/ethical produce’ +1

  128. ‘No more betting shops please’

  129. ‘Good commuity pub catering for existing as well as ‘new’ population’

  130. ‘Best thing thats happened in years’ ‘Not”

  131. ‘Keep large chains out encourage small enterprises’

  132. ‘Nice village feel’ +1

  133. ‘Interesting that Chatsworth rd is becoming a vintage furniture destination – good that its finding its own niche?’

  134. ‘Sun market too expensive for many.  This is alienating and dividing the community’ +3

  135. ‘Fewer bookies. A proper pub’

  136. ‘A decent bakery!’

  137. ‘Our convenience stores need to provide a wider range of fresh produce.  I hate to suggest it but the supermarket chains do wel to service the community in their local stores. Homerton Road would be ideally located for this.’

  138. ‘agree with the sentiment here – more fresh food – but not the solution supermarkets do little to reduce food miles, encourage small producers etc.’ ‘no more supermarkets’ In reference to the point above.

  139. ‘stall prices to be kept affordable x stallholders’

  140. “Open a shop on the Clapton Park estate – fresh meat poultry and eggs – reduced prices for people on benefits”

  141. “Want shop on Chats for trainers, Jeans, snoods, hats and sunglasses”

  142. Independent high street free from big chains/monopolies e.g starbucks etc  Ethical trading!

  143. “Cheap coffee shop not just for trendies.” “It’s not about trends, it’s about coffee prices! We’ve reached £1.90!” +5

  144. Market should have temporary stalls for locals to sell for one week without big start-up costs. +6

  145. “More stalls for local shops, not just expensive cheese.” “I like the cheese stall!” “And useless £10 cupcakes?! Who wants this”

  146. “People who want to get rid of takeaways/off licences/betting shops basically want to get rid of the only thing that locals can still afford ie. want to get rid of the local character/what Hackney was before hipsters invaded. So no thanks, keep them!” “We need to set up a ‘Hipsters against gentrification group.’” +1

  147. Value for money!

  148. Jock Young – Relative Deprivation – look it up.

  149. ‘Community quite polarised – Really bourgoise, disposable income – or excluded, poor, no income.  Need to bring together’ ‘How?’

  150. ‘Post office’ +2 ‘Nicer post office’

  151. ‘Free cash machine’ +1

  152. ‘More accommodating parking on Chatsworth Road itself for better access to shops’

  153. ‘Fewer bookie and hair salons’ ‘A variety of hair salons – great to have Jonny’s on the high street’

  154. ‘Fewer empty shops’

  155. ‘Mon-fri daytime footfall very low – not enough ‘destination’ shops.’

     

11 thoughts on “Shopping”

  1. Chatsworth Road could be one of the best High Streets in London but that is only going to happen if you let money flow into the area. I would like a High Street which is varied, safe, local and somewhere I can socialise. I would happily spend all of my disposable income on the Chatsworth Road but there have to be enough quality shops. If people want to re-open disused places they should be allowed to do so and not be frustrated because people feel it might be perceived as too up market. What is the alternative ? Empty shops? Another chicken or betting shop? It needs a proper bar to give it some life in the evening and a few more restaurants. I think the popularity of Shane’s and the new pizza place demonstrates the pent up demand for these things.

    1. Could not agree more, after all succesfull businesses each provide multiple employment and this can only be a good thing. Tiny poorly performing businesses that achieve minute turnover cannot provide jobs.

  2. The only things I still go to Tesco for really are dairy products. A cheese shop, not upmarket though, would be great.

  3. Another charity shop would be great too. Yep, cheese, charity and cash point – that’d be a perfect Chatsworth Road.

  4. we have too many betting shops in the area..can we please get these closed down. Be lovely to have a cheap-ish place to eat like Sarah’s old place ‘Chatsworth road kitchen’ in the eves for when we have guest over, a nice wine bar with some small plates of food. Considering there is a large Turkish community why do we not have a Turkish restaurant in the area? No chains though i would hate that

  5. I note that there are more people who express a need for a free cashpoint on Chatsworth than would oppose a local chain supermarket (which would provide a free cashpoint).
    To claim that the community oppose local chain supermarkets would be self-defeating. They thrive because they are hugely popular. If fact, those who oppose them do so precisely because of their popularity. If the stated aims of the neighbourhood plan are sincere (ie to encourage Accessibility and Diversity) then local chain stores do this far better than the increasing number of expensive niche food stores.

  6. Chatsworth Road will grow organically anyway with or without the limited interference of CRTRA. If Starbucks decides to land there’s not a lot you can do about it. We live in a free market economy. Quite a lot of daft ideas out there regarding the business of shopkeeping – ie the price of bread / coffee. If L’epicerie for example decides to sell a loaf of bread for £4/£5 it has the absolute right to charge what it wants. If the bread doesn’t sell it will reduce the price or go bust. You have a choice here, buy it or not, go up the road, buy from Percy Ingle or buy Turkish bread. Simple. Discounts for those on benefits? – who will subsidise the shopkeeper?

  7. we don’t care about £1.90 coffees and £5 crepes. We don’t care about vintage clothes and cupcakes. we just want employment and our community back. oh wait, that can’t happen – we’re being pushed out.
    Community and green space/quietness from the city buzz were the 2 good things that hackney had 6 years ago: now both of them are being ruined.

    Gentrification as a response to lower crime rates is the biggest joke I’ve ever heard: first of all, if crime rates were that bad there would be NO gentrification (yeah that’s right, however fake lefty-patronising some hipsters may be, a lot of them are uneasy around lower class people. I don’t recall any hipsters moving into Brixton in 1981). Second, crime is just being displaced to another area, it is NOT being solved. It’s probably actually making the problem worse as families loose their ties with the community when moving areas, communities which probably helped more than the police with consequences of crime.
    Also gentrification feeds into crime because of rising frustration and sense of envasion.

    The major argument being that people are reluctant to change is only partly true, people were reluctant to new waves of immigration since the 1910′s because there were issues of race which have now been lessened with modernity’s slightly more tolerant views. The issue of social status and income however is a different ballgame altogether. And no, gentrifying an area does NOT help working class locals improve their status and their communities’. It forces them out of the area.
    Gentrification can be compared to mass tourism: people destroy what they came for in the first place. I’m sure Ibiza was nice 20 years ago. Now look at it.

    There’s already a co-op on Homerton high street, can’t you just walk 10 minutes ? If you wanted a trendy chain-full area just go elsewhere, I’m sure you can afford it. Seems like all people care about is shops these days.
    Some of those posts are just hilarious, people moving into the area don’t want any fast food shops, betting shops or dogs around. What did they come here for then ?? What a joke, it’s basically as if I went to Knightsbridge and said I didn’t want Harrods and rich people around.

  8. I like hipsters and vintage shops, I like buying nice bread, good quality fresh fish and meat, I don’t sit in coffee shops but Id like to know I could if I wanted to, I like going out for a nice meal and having a glass of wine with my friends, I like socializing in the evening and experiencing culture. I like going out for a walk on a Sunday and cozying up in a nice pub and having delicious Sunday roast before wondering home.

    I like having a choice of options to do all of the above.

    I don’t want to travel across London to areas that have embraced innovation and positivity and are flourishing. I want to spend my time and money in my local street getting to know even more of my neighbor’s.

    Am I alone?

  9. I also like hearing from my elderly neighbor’s (one of whom was born in my house, is that local enough?) he tells me how nice Chatsworth road used to be before it deteriorated in the 70’s and how nice it is to see it regenerating again. His son drives him to Wanstead for Sunday lunch, wouldn’t it be nice if he could toddle off to Chatsworth Road and have a nice meal and meet the new generation and his remaining contemporaries and share more of his first hand recollections.

    Regeneration is not just the preserve of bearded hipsters!!

    By the way, between us we have looked after many stray cats, several have been successfully rehomed already, but we have 2 more very shy but very affectionate boys who are looking for a nice quiet home with a garden.
    Anyone interested?

Leave a comment