TfL rent rises will drive us out of Tube station, claim traders

Traders in the arcade at St James's Park station - underneath TfL's head office at 55 Broadway - say they will be forced to close if transport bosses do not back down.

Boris Johnson has pledged to help small businesses, calling them "the backbone of the capital's economy", and today traders called on him to intervene in his role as chairman of TfL.

John Rodi, 42, whose coffee bar Caffe Grana has been open for 15 years, said he was "distraught" when TfL told him his rent and service charge would leap from £48,000 a year to an "extortionate" £71,000 - a rise of 48 per cent.

He told the Standard: "The Mayor tells everyone he's helping small businesses but at the same time his transport arm is screwing the life out of us.

"These are bad times. TfL know we are suffering but they are driving us to the wall. They use bully-boy tactics to push the rent up and it's just not sustainable. This isn't Bond Street. I can't raise my prices because I will lose customers.

"I really think TfL would rather have these shops boarded up than negotiate like a reasonable landlord. We need Boris to put his money where his mouth is and help us to survive."

The shopkeepers say they had already seen a drop in trade before the recession with an exodus of office workers from the area over the past four years. Nine of the 10 shops in the station are independent after chains including Thorntons and Tie Rack moved out. The Standard is campaigning to support London's small shops as the recession threatens to close 200,000 stores across the capital by the end of the year.

Babu Patel, 55, owner of the station newsagents since 1990, said TfL had tried to double his £62,500 rent to £125,000, and is now demanding £80,000. He said: "That is still too much in this economic climate. TfL are greedy and they don't want to help."

Jatin Ondhia, 34, said his juice bar Tonic is likely to go bust as he struggles to pay the £40,500 rent and service charge on a lease signed last year.

He said: "Since we opened the market has nosedived. TfL should be working to help tenants but they have no sympathy. We're losing £8,000 a month so I don't know how long we will be open."

A TfL spokesman said: "TfL is in discussion with a tenant at the shopping arcade about a new lease to replace an agreement which has expired.

"A rent review by an independent arbitrator has determined the going rental rate which, with a service charge, TfL is seeking to have reflected in the new agreement."

He added that TfL helped small businesses by taking payments monthly rather than quarterly.

Tax u-turn after our investigation

COMPANIES have been spared the full pain of a £1.1 billion tax rise after the Evening Standard highlighted their plight.

In a special investigation in February, we reported how firms feared they would go under with a proposed five per cent rise in business rates. But in a last-minute U-turn by Chancellor Alistair Darling, the increase has been spread out over three years. Firms will pay two per cent more in 2009/10, and three per cent more over the following two years.

About 1.6 million British companies will benefit - but small firms will be particularly relieved as business rate rises disproportionately affect them.