The Cut - New Shops

The newsagent who was previously at what is now Paul at Waterloo Station originally said he was moving out because Pret were opening, not sure what happened there.

Went to an interesting talk by a restaurateur the other night who remarked on the difficulty of finding suitable sites in London. He said that whilst it's known that some landlords keep at least some of their rents affordable because they want to actively encourage a diverse mixture of interesting businesses (for example the Howard de Walden Estate with Marylebone High Street), there are more who just want the maximum return possible. Apparently when a rent review comes up, it's frequently hiked to what others in the same vicinity are paying, regardless of business type or affordability, not just an increase on the previous rent as used to be the case. He'd had to close one restaurant following a ten-fold increase.

No doubt when Caffe Nero opened a few years ago, they would have been prepared to pay a lot more than a small independent business (or the incumbent tenant) and will have set the bar for subsequent rent reviews and effectively set the ball rolling to bump out a lot of the current businesses so expect lots more changes.

Vent your spleen at the chains but please leave the knitters at iKnit alone along with Scooterworks, the fantastic Marsh Ruby and all the other great little places on Lower Marsh....they might not be around forever.

i'm with you and emma and phil. love the more pedestrian friendly cut and Lower Marsh. i particularly love looking into iknit and seeing them clacking away. certainly nicer than another random gift shop, as inoffensive as they are. iknit has character and the people who go there are doing something creative and inexpensive - it should be supported. just like scooterworks, greensmiths, radio days, night and day cafe and marsh ruby. and any of the other independent shops.
not so sure about the new Emma Cons - the planting looks a bit odd. and its desolate without any benches. people - whether they are tourists or street drinkers - are just sitting on the floor. its a bit of a mess. and i hope they keep the trees, one of them has had fences around for ages.
and really dislike the Brasserie. over-priced and tacky. its seems very cynical to think Old Vic punters will pay for crap. and it looks so sad as its usually empty. they should look at the young vic bar, the spanish bar and the hope and anchor, which are always packed and there are good reasons why. its not rocket science.
Pret a Manger seems a shame. i thought there was a no franchise rule for the cut and lower marsh (and that somehow Nero isn't a franchise?). there's room enough for them in the station. or a Pret a Manger would make a lot of sense in the understocked newsagent next to the Brasserie.
does anyone know who the new owners are of laughing gravy? the website looks nice. and if they've got rid of the weird, OTT office chairs the last owners had they're already onto a winner.

And whilst on the subject of shops we want to keep there (and perhaps encourage new ones) I would really not like the kitchecn shop to leave. Would welcome a good butcher, a baker and a greengrocer. Preferably on the Cut as it is closer to me, but hey, lower marsh will do. Failing that - Phil's waitrose idea sounds so much more useful for those of us that live there than Pret!

Agreed Tattie - I'd also hate to lose the electrical suppliers, Dress2Kill (who've just made me a lovely suit) and the army surplus equipment store (from where I always emerge with more than I went in for).

Zoe wrote:

It is a great kebab shop, it shows you should follow a copper if you want to find good take away.

The coppers and taxi drivers are also fans of masters super fish on w/loo rd another great takeaway

steph w wrote:

Zoe wrote:

It is a great kebab shop, it shows you should follow a copper if you want to find good take away.

The coppers and taxi drivers are also fans of masters super fish on w/loo rd another great takeaway

Super Fish needs a makeover. And take down all them dirty greasy tickets on display plastered all around the walls. The food is nice but lacks a good floor Manager.

Greensmiths have a brilliant butcher, they and Konditor have good bread, and Greensmiths have a good vegetable part. none of this is cheap.

One shop I unfortunately can't see lasting is Panbros newsagents... went for some basic stationary the other day and there was hardly none. Maybe they do well on the dry cleaning side of things, can't see many people having photos printed these days either. It is a good sizes shop and the location in the corner is very attractive.

nelson_ wrote:

Great - just what we need, another shop selling sandwiches. But, I guess it was expected and I guess Pret is a step up from a Fried Chicken shop that was there (rather than kebab?).
Apropos kebabs, has anybody else noticed how there always seems to be policemen shopping in the kebab shop on the Cut? Do they get free food there or a discount or do coppers just generally have a very bad diet as they have to eat on the move?

Yep its a popular place for police and ambulance , probably as its considered the best kebab shop for miles around !

steph w wrote:

Zoe wrote:

It is a great kebab shop, it shows you should follow a copper if you want to find good take away.

The coppers and taxi drivers are also fans of masters super fish on w/loo rd another great takeaway

We used to use the chinese that is next to super fish but a lot of us (ambulance peeps) stopped using it around a month ago after it had an emergency closure notice served on it by the hygeine inspectors ! was only shut for about a week but having an offical notice on its shutters saying "closed due to serious risk to public health" , was enough to put us off :)