"Derelict London.com is the London behind the pomp and the glossy brochures - a city in a state of artful decay"

The Evening Standard has launched a campaign to preserve London's independent small shops which are being put at risk by

the march of the supermarket giants, exorbitant rents and council parking policies.

Across the country, more than 7,000 family or individually owned shops disappeared between 2001 and 2005, a 21 per cent slump.

Last month MPs on the All Party Small Shops Group warned that at the current rate of loss, virtually all small independent shops could be gone by 2015.

The Campaign is calling on councils and the Government to use planning law to protect locally owned stores

believing there should be a law to stop massive rent rises being imposed on independent shops.

This was without doubt the most famous pet shop in London. Founded in 1918, the increasing rent ,rates & insurance

costs and the decline in pet sales led to closure in Summer 2005. The shop has moved into smaller premises over the

road selling just pet foods & accessories. Back in the old days you could buy unusual animals, including chimpanzees.

The Mayor of London bought pet newts there and in the 1950's the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill bought a kitten

there. Charlie Chaplin, Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke also bought kittens there.

Paddington Green

This electrical shop appears to be abandoned - there is "brand new" stock in the window but it appears

to have been there for years untouched and the price tags have faded and the pollution of the Edgware Rd

has added an extra grime to the window. The owner obviously hasn't bothered opening up since his

Sainsbury windfall......

I found this article in the Observer: "Businessman Michael Dean has received £3m and is in line for up to

£7m more. He may be Britain's luckiest small businessman for he was in the right place when Sainsbury's

property development team came knocking. The supermarket decided it had to speculate to accumulate,

and Dean's property was the gamble it took. It was prepared to bet almost £10m on a run-down, four-storey

corner shop with flats above in the belief that it would unlock access to central London's last superstore

development. As a public planning inquiry showed, it may prove to have been an expensive flutter. "

This little triangle of shops has been been home to sex shops,brothels, etc for decades and the buildings fell

into neglect and now Westminster Council wish to have this prime location beside the Charing Cross Road

cleaned up. Back in the early 90's I remember coming out of a West End nightclub at 4am and for some reason

we got to talking to a vagrant who ended up taking us to a late night drinking den which was situated above a dodgy

minicab office in one of these buildings. The steep stairs creaked and the walls smelt of damp until you walked into

a barage of smoke in what seemed similar to someone's living room.The "bar" was a tiny hatch in the wall and the

seats were occupied by an assortment of clocked off streetgirls, pimps, dealers & seedy old businessmen playing cards.

Of course we didnt care, we just wanted a drink and were quite happy but with hindsight the place was dodgy and felt

compelled never to return. A little while later the Evening Standard reported on a major armed drug raid on the premises

as it was apparently a gangland stronghold.

Jamie writes: Oh dear! it is so strange to see what was once such a vibrant little shop,all closed up and in

bad state of disrepair,mum and me would get off the routemaster no 15 or 23 bus at the stop right outside

les's fishshop/stall on our way home from school and work,and have a chat and the opportunity to buy just

about every fish you could possibly imagine,there was no public entrance to robert's ,you would stand

shoulder to shoulder with other customers along the front of the shop at the bottom of the fish display,we

moved into the area 1976,and les was running the show then,he was a hilariously quick witted and cheerful

bloke,i can picture him standing there in his white coat and apron (not always wearing a white hat)people

not only bought fish from les,but also went for a 10min comedy stand-up routine from him over that side

side,while everyone was this side,seperated by the cold staring eyes of his latest livlihood,My mother was

his greatest fan, and once to top all the belly laughs we had from him and his fishy tales of fish,his brother

in law dave who was equally as funny as les,Was standing behind the display,looking Big powerfull and

assertive and ready to go,he took our order down on his little notebook(paper-one)and semi-dissapeared

from our view,my mother allready laughing at that,laughed extremely hard when he showed us his

upturned milk crate,he stood on,he was only half visible and then stood up on the crate and Wow instant

leadership and pillar of the community mixed with a tall and confident body language ,but Quickly and

suddenly vanished alltogher,1 sec later a dishevelled bloke ,wearing a now wonky straw hat and soaking

wet uniform appeared nose first from the top of the display,slowly and then a yell of NO OH NO NO,his fall

from crate had also tipped the full to the brim with live eels tank over,and before everyone's eyes they

dissapeared one by one in single file right down the drainage hole in the floor inside the shop,with him d

esperately trying to catch em by their tail end,every body outside was not sure wether to lol or not ,so had

it away on their feet ,to a bit further down the road where they could not be heard laughing at the poor mans

plight,funny and lovely memorys of days past,i think he shut down about 1990-or1992,we never saw him

again,such a funny good natured bloke he was..!

Lloyds Dairy - Mary wrtes: Mrs Lloyd, who was very Welsh, and very old, lived there in the nineties,

[ when I managed some repairs to the property for Islington Council]. Her father had started the

business in the early 20th century. She told us how the milk churns would be brought into the

yard at the rear, which was unchanged, and taken around the streets by horse and cart, from which

milk was dispensed. The shop still had ancient refrigerators and counters. It still sold groceries. The

light fittings were milk bottle shapes.It is now "Unpackaged" a shop selling goods without unnecessary

Brick Lane Homerton Shoreditch

Euston	Charlton
Stoke Newington	Norton Folgate
West Croydon	West Croydon
Addiscombe	Colliers Wood
Hayes	Joanna writes "I have fond memories of Joe's! It's only been closed for a few years and has been missed ever since. It's been there as long as I can remember and that's where i experienced my first kebab. Joe, who ran the place was a great guy (still alive I'm sure!) and he used to hold impromtu chili eating competitions for us mouthy kids - they certainly shut us up! I think the whole row of shops has been replaced with housing for teachers, public servant etc in the last 6 mths or so."
Camberwell
Mornington Crescent	Angel
Kings Cross	Kings Cross
Mornington Crescent
Islington	Hayes
Finsbury Park	Finsbury Park
Holloway	Hackney
Golborne Park	Chalk Farm
Holloway THIS BUILDING WAS ONCE THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY STATION WHICH CLOSED AROUND THE 1ST WORLD WAR.	Limehouse
off Brick Lane	Limehouse
Walthamstow	Walthamstow
Blackhorse Lane E17	Seven Sisters
Sth Tottenham	Sth Tottenham (Barclays Bk)
Walthamstow	Walthamstow

Walthamstow The recently demolished arcade was used for Sophie Ellis Bextor's video, 'Get Over You'. The council plans to build restaurants, bars, shops and homes as well as a new multi-million-pound library on the site. It has been in negotiation with various companies, such as pub chain JD Weatherspoon, about filling the available commercial space.A council spokeman says "The aim is to turn Walthamstow into a lively, metropolitan town centre, which attracts high quality retailers and leisure provision."
Walthamstow	Sth Tottenham
West Croydon	Leytonstone
Fulham	New Cross
Catford	Greenwich
Elephant & Castle	Clapham

Dagenham
Dalston	Denmark Hill
Kennington	Kensal Green
Balham	Shepherds Bush
Shepherds Bush	Farringdon Street
Richmond	Farringdon Road
Camden	Whitechapel
Globe Town	Eltham
Maze Hill	Old Street recently reopened as a STARBUCKS!!
Hackney	Stoke Newington
Pimlico	Willesden
Borough	Deptford
Borough	Walthamstow
	Bowes Park This menswear shop has a fully stocked window display but it looks like the shop simply closed one day several years ago and unexpectedly didnt open the next day