Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
What's Barclays Bank up to in N10?
Another independent shop in Muswell Hill is under threat — and this one is shaping up to be a real David and Goliath battle.
In the blue corner we have Barclays Bank, you know, the bank that was fined a record £284million for rigging Libor rates, allegedly laundered FIFA bribes and had its knuckles rapped by the FSA for mis-selling financial products to small business.
And in the red corner we have the Muswell Hill institution: Andrew's, the Jewellery Exchange, 225, the antique shop, the junk shop ... it goes by many names, but I think we'd all agree it's a local treasure.
What I didn't know until I read the petition outside this shop, is that it only exists because when Barclays wanted to expand sometime back in the Seventies or Eighties, long before a lot of us lived here.
In those days the council used to protect the high street and refused to let Barclays take out over another shopfront.
So a compromise was struck which involved splitting the shop next to the branch so Barclays could expand behind the scenes, but Muswell Hill retained a shop, albeit a very small one.
Now, for some reason Barclays is trying to change the lease to remove some of the legal protections Andrew now has, back-date some bitsof the and insert a break clause which makes it easier to chuck him out.
Why?
There are only two reasons why they would want this. Barclays is planning to close the branch and wants their tenant out.
Or they want to take expand and take over his shopfront.
Personally I think either option stinks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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A banks are shrinking their high street presence, it's more likely to be the former.
As it has a finance licence, doesn't that mean it could automatically be a site for a bookies'? Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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Indeed: the Natwest branch at Finsbury Park (the nearest Natwest for the south end of Harringay) closed on Wednesday 12 August.
Apparently there's a deal with the adjacent Post Office for customers to do some transactions there instead (customers can check their balance, deposit and withdraw funds, and business customers can get coinage, according to the Islington Gazette report back in May).
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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You're right Pam. A2 use means that any of the following businesses can be run without applying for new planning permission
Banks, Building societies, Bureau de change
Professional services: Estate agents, Employment agencies
Other services: Betting shops, Pay day loan shops.
If it was a betting shop they'd need to apply for a licence to operate but as we've all seen elsewhere that doesn't seem too hard to come by.
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