Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Traders fear parking charge rise from £2.80 to £6 will kill off shops
Traders in Harringay have hit out at parking charge hikes which they warn could spell the death of their high street by “driving away” potential customers. Shoppers will now have to shell out £6 to park for up to two hours on the stretch of Green Lanes next to the Harringay Ladder, and business-owners say the increase from £2.80 imposed by Haringey Council is already costing them dearly.
Clive Disney, 49, of Disney’s furniture shop, a family business which has been based in Grand Parade since 1913, told the Advertiser: “People are going to pull up to the meter, see the charge of £6 and drive off.
“This is going to have a really big impact, especially in the current trading situation. If times were good, it is something we would fight anyway but so many businesses are really struggling at the moment.
“Already we get so many people ringing up for a quote because they say they passed by and couldn’t find a parking meter or it was too expensive to stop.
“The trading estate is just up the road and it is free to park up there. We are supposed to compete on an even basis with those shops but it’s impossible.
“Once we have got the customers in the shop we can hopefully impress them with our service and the more personal experience of shopping at an independent, family-run shop like ours, but if we can’t get them in in the first place we don’t stand a chance.”
Shefik Mehmet, chairman of the Harringay Traders’ Association, called an emergency meeting of traders on Tuesday afternoon to address the issue.
He said: “I get calls every day from traders reporting back from their customers about parking problems. We are being classed the same as the Wood Green shopping centre area which is ridiculous. “This is going to make things very difficult for business-owners and we are going to see more shops closing.”
Councillor Nilgun Canver, cabinet member for neighbourhoods at the council, said that the rise in parking charges was the first since 2008.
“Careful consideration was given to the impact of the increased costs, and the changes were introduced in April following a consultation period, including a survey of visitors to the area,” she said.
“The popularity of Green Lanes as a shopping area means that demand for parking is very high. We hope that the new charges will encourage a turnover of use – discouraging drivers from taking spaces for too long and allowing more shoppers to visit the area, which will be of benefit to traders.”
Story from Haringey Advertiser
Tags for Forum Posts: high street parking, high streets
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Anette on
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@Hugo: YES!!!!! And cheese. Chuck in some pastries and make it a baklava free zone and I'll move in.
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Permalink Reply by JulieB on
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Yes I'd shop there, I do a good line in cakes and hand made chocolates for when you expand your range ;o)
I don't buy wine anywhere locally, I don't like the selection from Sainsburys. So I go over to Crouch End or buy it from Ocado.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Yes. I would. I'd even pay you a subscription for a monthly case.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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If you liked this thread you may be interested in Tammy's recently added thread "Make a Difference and help change Wood Green High Street"
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Permalink Reply by KP on
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Maybe we need to get Mary Portas to sort out Harringay's High Street along with Wood Green!
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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What about the bookshop, chemists, music shop, second-hand and new furniture shops, Gill Wing cookshop, library, ironmongers, flower shop, art shop....?
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Permalink Reply by Louise Nazeraj on
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And picture framers, the knitting/wool shop, health food shop, exceptional chemists stocking huge range of products, excellent clothes boutiques including one where you can take your old (good quality items) and sell it on, antiques, bicycle shops, butchers, bakers, greengrocers, timber, an independent supermarket stocking local produce...I think people get a bit blinded by coffee shops in Crouch End and think it's a bit chi chi, but it has an amazing selection of shops on offer, most of which are very practical.
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No, William, no one here is complaining about Crouch End. I published a random tweet from the Twittersphere. Actually my point in posting in was to suggest that perceptions differ and to an extent it's all in the perception.
As it happens I disagree. Whilst I preferred the quirkiness of Crouch End when I first knew it and lived there, if someone back then had offered me a Waitrose, M&S and a few of the shops that have some come and gone, I'd have grabbed them in a flash.
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Billy you wrote "you're complaining". The point I made in my last post is that no one here IS complaining (yet). People in fact are defending Crouch End against what to them is an anonymous bit of interwebs chatter.
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There are a lot of charity shops in Crouch End - Oxfam, Marie Curie, North London Hospice, RSPCA, Cancer Research...for such a small area! And there are plenty of chains: M&S, Waitrose, Tesco, KFC, Starbucks, Costa, Orange, T-Mobile, Boots, Greggs. And it's certainly not free from dog shit either...far from it. But yes, there is an ambience that people do greatly care about it!
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