Primrose Hill is a haven for celebrities, so what could be more fitting than B-lister Simon Jenkins selling his five storey town house on Regents Park Road to another B-lister, Mary Portas. Perhaps Mary is attracted by a high street of independent local traders, after all this is an area that blocked Starbucks’ arrival.
But if you concluded that Primrose Hill proves the Portas formula, you’d be wrong. The street has lost half a dozen long standing traders (including useful everyday places like hardware and vegetarian shops and a Chippy) and now the pet shop is under threat, whilst some of us worry for the book shop too. In their places arrive (another) useless cake shop and various knick-knackery sellers including Mary’s own unpromising offering. Most controversially a chain store – Space NK – has opened causing general angst. Local writer India Knight is normally for the local Zeitgeist (and against chains) but explains that Space NK is owned by a self-made woman – so that should be OK – OK?
A petition against the closure of local stores and opening of chains was widely circulated and signed – we’re good at petitions – and shame on the doubters who point out that better help would be to shop locally before they close. But local shops are squeezed by only slightly less local supermarkets and more convenient delivery services.
Mary used a recent press article to test an alternative approach. She praised the twice yearly street market, but many residents think the fair is tacky whilst the shop owners see it as unfair competition and disruptive to trdae as their sales plummet whilst the Regent’s Park Road is taken over by food stalls and hurdy-gurdies.
Mary will have a prime view from her house of the remaining useful shops; arrival of those chains that can be bothered; and street noise.
But her legacy might be that house price – according to rumour £6 million or £1,500 psf – looks like a step up for the local market. Welcome.