Squeeze 'will kill off 300 small stores'

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Business leaders warned today that some of London's best-loved stores are under threat as the downturn keeps customers away and sales suffer.

Richard Dodd of the London Retail Consortium said: "Smaller retailers suffer more from rising costs and the knock-on effects of regulation, which makes it more expensive and more difficult to do business.

"These pressures are coming from a combination of costs and customers being less able to buy many products. Independents don't have the advantages of the economies of scale that come with size, and the resilience that gives you."

Nick Winch, of the Federation of Small Businesses in London, said: "There are 2,000 shops closing this year in the UK and 300 of those will be in London. They are likely to be replaced by chain stores, which are better equipped to weather the current financial climate. There is a huge issue in terms of running a small shop in London. The rents and rates are higher and the competition is greater.

"We would like supermarkets to be forced to provide space for independent retailers when they are granted planning-permission for new stores." The problem is highlighted by Berwick Street in Soho, which has lost 10 of the music shops for which it was once renowned in the past five years.

Some stores have been replaced by budget shops and hairdressers, while other sites are empty or boarded up.

The owners of the handful of remaining music shops say they too are under threat of closure as they struggle with competition from the internet as well as increasing costs - business rates in the area have risen by 13 per cent since 2003.

Today, shoppers lamented the disappearing music stores.

Alex Thomas, 39, from Clerkenwell, said: "It would be a disaster if all our small record shops disappeared - having to go somewhere like HMV or Zavvi would be a nightmare." Boris Johnson has announced plans to protect independent traders, in a victory for the Evening Standard's Save Our Small Shops campaign. The proposals could include charging cut-price rents.