Alex Feakes
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Forest Hill Ward
cllr_alex.feakes@lewisham.gov.uk
020 8613 8169
has replied to me that he is going to look into the matter for us.
Hopefully, planning rules can be used to prevent all our shops becoming flats.
It is a shame that Lewisham do not recognise Honor Oak as a proper town centre (other the town centre manager does have responsibility for this shopping area). I know it is not big, but they could have marked the shops on the UDP
http://www2.lewisham.gov.uk/lbl/planning...fr048.html
This is likely to make protecting the retail units harder. The problem is once you start to convert retail to residential it is difficult to know where it will stop.
Because Honor Oak Park is in Crofton Park ward it is difficult to know what Forest Hill councillors can do on this issue.
The problem gets worse for a parade of shops once one closes customers go elsewhere and the remaining shops struggle to survive.
It is a shame that Lewisham do not recognise Honor Oak as a proper town centre (other the town centre manager does have responsibility for this shopping area). I know it is not big, but they could have marked the shops on the UDP
http://www2.lewisham.gov.uk/lbl/planning...fr048.html
This is likely to make protecting the retail units harder. The problem is once you start to convert retail to residential it is difficult to know where it will stop.
Because Honor Oak Park is in Crofton Park ward it is difficult to know what Forest Hill councillors can do on this issue.
They told me to get in touch with the Crofton Park councillors.
One more thing - just been into one of the shops (don't want to say which in case I get the owner in trouble) and the owner said the whole parade on HOP is owned by the same landlord - is this right? He says there's been a rent increase and it's making life very difficult for them.
i have lived in h.o.p for 25 years, and yes the shops are all owned by one landlord. i have known very many of the shopkeepers over the years and i have been told he is a very unreasonable man. i have no axe to grind, but he is a very rich man. how much money does one man need!!! pure greed..
It doesn't really matter how many shops they own. All landlords seem to put the rent up whenever they can.
Does anyone know what's happening to Bar Equal? Have had a look on other threads and can't find any up to date news.
it is not about greed. what are the rents like comparable to other areas? perhaps they are quite reasonable. given that a new business (neroli) has decided to locate on the parade, rates cannot be that bad in comparison.
why do you expect the landlord to "give" money away - he is not gordon brown.
Rates are comparable to ED. In June last year the rent asked for the Neroli shop was ?1050 pcm plus rates of ?270 pcm. Also the shop had some beautiful features but no central heating, all windows needed replacing etc. Also I don't think the Honor Oak Parade can deliver the sort of financial return that ED can at the moment - it's a shame.
I agree that you shouldn't expect a landlord to be uncommercial, but the market can only improve with more investment in the shops. We really don't need any more cheap conversions on the parade.
I went past Bar Equal last night and saw the shutters up and signs of activity inside. Does anyone know if there's a new owner?
More work there today - inside looked like a building site. No change of use application on the Lewisham planning site so I presume it will be similar.
Well fingers crossed it opens soon - will be nice to have another bar on the parade.
Agreed Hopper. A few of us used to meet up after work very regularly at bar equal and I really miss the convenience of it.
Would be nice to have somewhere that did cocktails, Bar Equal didnt really work for me, but it did have nice cocktails.
The Honor Oak do a good range of cocktails. My wife is a fan of the honey-berry sour, made with rasberries.
Driving past on the way home yesterday I noticed that there was a sign saying that the old Bar Equal site has been let. This after some activity last week when the shutters were up and the lights on. Anyone heard any rumblings of what it might be? (Let's hope its not another bookmaker, nail bar or hot chicken shop!)
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Admin note: This location is soon to open as the Stone bar/restaurant so a new thread has been created here.