Postby jonathan @ hamptons » Wed Oct 05, 2016 9:39 pm
Good evening all,
There are a few empty shops but many of them more by design than by accident. The Holy Drinker has been bought by the restaurant group Made in Italy. Their fit-out has been interminably slow but mainly because they have installed a mezzanine floor. The old Printax site and also Harry & Mary's newsagent have been completely refurbished (Harry & Mary's completely demolished and rebuilt) to provide three flats above, and a commercial space on the ground floor which will be re-let in due course. Dandelion is going down the same route but the development hasn't started yet which is odd.
The old café opposite the library has new lessees but is still under fit-out, and there are a few empty shops which have yet to find new tenants (I think), namely Merino kids, Samba Swirl and Capsticks. The old Mayoral shop next to the Breadstall is still empty but I would have to say that unless it's a business that complements the queues at the Breadstall, it is unlikely to find a tenant anytime soon due to the fact that Seb's stall prevents the shop from having any actual street frontage.
As we have all seen in the past, Northcote Road is a constantly changing mosaic of shops and whilst there have been some very welcome recent additions, I for one would still like to see more independents. Failing that, it would be great to just have some more shops appropriate to the Northcote Road demographic. White Company or Pret - are you listening...???
Jonathan