Fears from local businesses that the new Sainsbury’s in Wapping Lane will kill off the traditional high street

One year after Sainsbury’s opened in Wapping Lane, residents and organisations say the high street is barely hanging on and warn more independent shops will close.

Jumping off the Tube and walking down to Wapping Lane almost feels as if you’ve been transported to a different time and place.

The quiet stretch of road between Wapping and Shadwell station in Tower Hamlets doesn’t resemble London’s current high streets full of never-ending queues and chains, instead offering a traditional family butcher’s, a longstanding fish and chip shop and a welcoming cafe with a really local feel.

But what some feel is one of the city’s last truly local high streets is in decline. Residents have shared their fears that the characteristics that make the hidden gem stand out could be lost as more of the small shops seem to be closing their shutters for the final time.

Four of the units were boarded up and left empty or closed in the middle of the day along the small lane when the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited.

‘It’s dead around here,’ Stuart Shaer says. He has lived in the area all his life and comes over to use the local laundrette and post office.

‘I mean the shops here used to be busy very many years ago. There used to be a nice bakery – it was a nice little shopping parade. But it’s changed; like anything else. You can’t liven this up. It’s just the people who live around here who know it.’

The local butcher, Ian Hussey, said that many businesses were suffering as the council had hiked up prices in rent. He took over the shop from his father in 1968 and has been serving the community for more than 50 years.

‘I don’t believe that the council actually want shops down here. I think they want to make it residential. Why would they have allowed Sainsbury’s to come on the corner?

‘[Footfall] has dropped considerably because the veg shop’s closed, the baker’s has closed. With the meat, we have to be very very specialist to make sure that we have everything – a very full comprehensive selection – so that people come to us.

‘I just don’t think [the council] care. They shouldn’t have put the rent up. They shouldn’t be so hot with the parking. They just need to slacken up.’

He said that the shop was still performing well thanks to a strong stream of regular customers, but he recently had to close the local greengrocers just a few doors down.

Speaking about the importance of Wapping Lane for the community and building relationships, he reflected on what the road used to be like:

‘Husbands would complain and say ‘God almighty, you’ve gone out for a loaf of bread, pound of mince, you’ve been gone an hour and a half’.

‘They’d go to this shop, that one, have a cup of tea there. That doesn’t happen anymore. You haven’t got the shops and you haven’t got the people.’

Across the road, John from the Wapping Fish Bar said that big corporations moving onto the main road were threatening the shops.

‘This place used to be like a little village, I used to call it, that’s why I used to love it here. On the high street, you had everything. It’s very very bad. Sometimes I get sad talking about it and get emotional because it’s not fair.

‘The council’s not helping, they’re putting up rent. They know what they’re doing. They’re cleansing small businesses to make room for the big businesses. The poorer gets poorer and the richer gets richer.’

Tucked inside Cinnamon, a snug independent cafe on the high street, manager Florence Rees-Waite said the area was ‘eerily quiet’ at times, but chalked it down to being a mainly residential area.

She said the cafe itself had not noticed much difference in their customers, but in conversations with the other businesses they all seemed to agree it had quietened down.

She said: ‘Wapping as a community is incredibly strong so people do try and support all of the local businesses. I know that [rent prices] were very reasonable and then recently, within this year, they have put them up quite a lot. These are small independent businesses and it will just push everyone out because they can’t afford it.’

Wandering down the street, 91-year-old resident Roland Hallfors said there were ‘very few’ people that walked down Wapping Lane anymore. He praised Wapping as a ‘fantastic’ place to live and said he liked that it was quieter than surrounding areas.

On the high street shops closing down, he added: ‘We’ve got the Sainsbury’s here, a little more than half a year or a year ago, and they have killed off most of the shops we have.

‘We had a bakery in the corner, there are still [some shops left] but I think they will close down as well. I think that it will be Sainsbury’s, Husseys and the pharmacy and the post office which will stay on there.’

Local councillor Abdal Ullah (Labour, St Katharine’s and Wapping) said that more could be done to help local businesses in the area.

He said: “I grew up in the area and each one of those shops from the laundrette, the post office, the chemist and the chip shop have been part of the fabric of the community. It’s quite tough but I think there’s quite a good drive to shop local and help out the independent businesses..

“We’re tucked away so the footfall is minimal numbers. We definitely want to do more to encourage local business. We are served well, but, as I say, Wapping Lane could do with more of a council injection.”

A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said: “We recognise that the pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis have created significant challenges for our local businesses.

“The Sainsbury’s supermarket is set to open in premises that were previously used for retail space, which means that there is no need to apply for planning permission.

“Local businesses play a vital role in our community, and in October, we announced a £700,000 investment to support them. Additionally, we are preparing to launch two new projects specifically designed for established businesses.

“The council also provides a comprehensive planning advice service that local businesses can use if they are thinking about applying for planning permission.”

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