I was on my home just now and I passed the old East West grocery shop to see it was being done up. I asked the shop fitter what it was going to be and he said "A Cheque Shop," I replied "Another one?" he said "Yep, another one."
Did they apply for change of usage? Why was this not talked about on here? Sydenham Society -were you aware of this and can you comment as to why this happened without any objection? Can Chris Best comment on this latest offering, as there have been some unanswered questions about the opening of the Cash and Cheque Express?
We need to make a stand, we need a strong voice for Sydenham that will really help improve our high street, not let outlets that play on the needy open!
I think there need to be serious questions about this one. We will now have 2 financial services A2 outfits operating as general retail shops on a parade where chage of use has been vigorously and succesfully opposed before. It will be interesting so to see what the East2West's retail offer is. The same as Cheque Express; some second hand electrical equipment? Makes you wonder why bookmakers such as Paddy Power bothered applying for change of use when persumably they could have said they were general retail supplying paper and pens with the option of watching and betting on sports as ancillary.
Get a grip LLB!
In defence of our local Councillors, the council don't own the property on the high street and it's difficult to stop businesses from opening up.
What is disappointing are the priorities of our local Councilors. Rather than pushing Kente over the type of brick they used in the stall riser (the bit below the window) and pushing for expensive 'will we ever see it' mosaics it might have been better to look at the bigger picture, introduce fresh ideas and stand back and look at how we can really address the real issues on the high street.
Shops constantly break council guidance on roller shutters etc, but many shops either ignore or simply don't know there are even guidelines available. Many shops in Sydenham don't know it's a conservation area (looking at it, why would they?) and we don't have a good (any) town centre manager to push this.
It might be a good idea to have a welcoming pack for shops… but I will post the idea in a separate thread.
I have asked the planning enforcement officer to look at the roller shutter at Cash and Cheque Express trading at 79 Sydenham Road which is going to trade as A1 retail - opening Monday.
I have asked officers to let me know how they monitor the retail trade against the financial services element which would fall into A2 use.
.... ah well, better that than a cupcake shop eh RH?