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DERELICT LONDON SHOPS
"Derelict London.com is the London behind the pomp and the glossy brochures -
a city in a state of artful decay" - Scandal.org
NEW CROSS
(Left) HACKNEY, (middle) BLACKFRIARS & (right) EUSTON
SPITALFIELDS
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. 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.
CATFORD
GREENWICH
Disused ladies wear shop
LATIMER ROAD - MALS FISH AND CHIP SHOP
This shop has been closed for just over 20 years but it is still sitting here like a time capsule as Mal's son cleans it every Monday. When open it served fish and chips wrapped in newspaper & according to one person who wrote to Derelict London it had the best fish and chips in London.
WOOLWICH - THE OLD COOP DEPARTMENT STORE
The 1930s Co-Op building in Powis Street has been earmarked for demolition by the Council, who want to redevelop the whole "Woolwich Triangle" are with a hotel, shops & housing.
Rev. Sue Scottley ( www.welovewoolwich.co.uk ) writes: Most of the site is empty Victorian shops which have been left to rot for some years, and have taken the opportunity with glee, but the Co-Op building is a striking art deco style department store with a tower and is a one of three large 1930s buildings at that end of town. The other two are safe, being occupied by a church and a bingo hall, indeed the bingo hall was open during the London Open House weekends because it's so beautiful and well-preserved. So even though that end of town could well be described as our "Art Deco quarter" the Council insists on wanting to demolish the Co-Op. I've started petitions online and in town, and I'm getting quite a lot of support. . I live across the road from the rotting Victoriana, and am disgusted and aghast with the Council that seems determined to write off my end of town a hopeless dump, even though my side of the street is thriving and has no vacant shops! I really don't see why they can't refurbish and redevelop rather than demolish the whole "Triangle".
WOOLWICH
HOUNSLOW - SAFEWAY
Safeway were one of the UK's largest supermarket chains but were taken over by Morrisons a few years ago. Morrisons simply renamed most of the old shops although they decided not to convert this one in Hounslow (some leasehold issues apparently). The interior of this old Safeway store was used as a film set for the interior of Somerfields in Hot Fuzz starring Simon Pegg.
WIMBLEDON - MFI
MFI was the UK's largest furniture retailer that went bust at the end of 2008 citing falling demand ,cash-flow problems and the withdrawal of credit. At the start of 2008 they had 192 stores and a workforce of more than 2500 people. MFI was founded in the 1960s and became synonymous with the growing trend for buying flatpack furniture.
WOOLWORTHS
(Left) SUTTON, (Middle) WALTHAMSTOW & (Right) CLAPHAM
The whole of the UK mourned the loss of Woolworths which went out of business just before its 100 year anniversary in this country. It sold a bit of everything from pick n mix sweets & cds to children's clothes & gardening tools. It became a dependable jack of all trades but master of none and while a lot of people browsed the stores in latter years nobody actually spent much money in there. Business only bucked up again when the much talked about closing down countdown sale took place.Saddles with debts of over £300m the 800 stores across the country closed down a week or two either side of Xmas 2008 leaving 30,000 loyal workers without jobs.
LEE GREEN (left) and ASHFORD (right)
This isn't just the end of a chain store. It is the final chapter in a shopping way of life, because nothing will quite take the place of Woolies on our high streets.
ALDGATE EAST
The above pic is of the remaining piece of tiled shopfloor displaying the old Woolworths logo. The store has been demolished
HOMERTON (left) NORTON FOLGATE (right)
LEE GREEN
PADDINGTON GREEN - DEANS AUDIO
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. "
SOHO
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.
The much loved South East London sausage shops:
CAMBERWELL (above) - KENNEDYS SAUSAGES
PECKHAM (above) - KENNEDYS SAUSAGES
BROMLEY, WALWORTH & PENGE - KENNEDYS SAUSAGES
The company, had been run by the same family for 130 years, had nine stores across SE London closed at the end of 2007.As well as sausages, the company was known for its Christmas puddings, sausage rolls, meat pies, puff pastry etc. It will be sadly missed. Despite having a fantastic reputation and loyal customers
the company could not afford the overheads and competition from the corporates.
"Judging by the queue just before it closed shoppers took their money from Northern Rock walked round the corner and invested in sausages!" (Quote from the local paper)
CAMDEN TOWN - AFTERMATH OF THE GREAT FIRE OF CAMDEN 2008
One of the biggest news events of Nth London for a while wrecked this part of the market. The remains of the blue building above right used to be the Canaervon Castle Pub (aka the Firkin) a place that always had live bands on a Sat afternoon. Latterly it became a large clothes shop.
CATFORD
LIMEHOUSE - FISHMONGERS
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 desperately 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..!"


ISLINGTON - LLOYDS DAIRY
Mary writes: "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 packaging."
HAYES - JOSEPH'S KEBAB SERVICE
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 usmouthy 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."
WALHAMSTOW E17 - ARCADE SHOPPING CENTRE
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."
More recently developer St Modwen who was initially to fund the project pulled out because it did not believe it would be profitable in the current economic climate.Despite much opposition from residents the council plans to fund the scheme to redevelop the site, by borrowing £35m, which it says it can recoup by selling off the Waltham Forest Pool & Track site for housing as well as units on the Arcade site. This means the all the financial risk will be on the taxpayer.
WAPPING E1 - TOBACCO DOCK SHOPPING CENTRE
Tobacco Dock is a grade I-listed warehouse constructed in around 1812 and formerly used as a store for imported tobacco. It is a brick building with beautiful vaults and some fine ironwork.
In 1990 the building was converted into a shopping centre, but the scheme was unsuccessful and the enterprise went into administration. Since the late 1990s the structure has been almost entirely unoccupied, although it is occasionally used for large-scale corporate events and part of the building recently accommodated the studios of the Channel 4 reality television show Shattered.
This vast centre currently has only one outlet, the Frank & Stein sandwich shop. Despite this, the site is expensively maintained, with cleaners, full-time security staff and even a kestrel (to chase away pigeons). Walking around this desolate arcade is an eerie experience. In one shop there is even a pile of discarded pirate dummies.
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.
Gary cook writes: "the gentleman concerned is George D Moore, he is still alive and kicking but only opens once or twice a month, this is due to some kind of council tax rebate; if he keeps stock in the window he gets some sort of discount as he still lives upstairs. I remember as a child going to the local chippy about 10 doors down and on my way back eating my 6d (2 1/2 pence) worth of chips, i would stand and stare at his motorised revolving cufflink stand that was always in the front window with the cheap stones reflecting in the shop lights,its not there any more, it must have given up the ghost, however he has not, he must be about 75- 80 now , a mad nostalgic friend of mine always trys to buy a shirt or a pair of underpants to give him some trade but is always turned away, so much for supporting your local store eh!. Any way great site and keep up the great work, this is one of the nets great and very interesting nostalgic sites."

Any places you think should be on this site? Let me know!
Also info (however trivial) or stories/personal memories on any of the buildings would be appreciated.
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CAMDEN TOWN
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BERMONDSEY
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BOROUGH
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FULHAM
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BARNSBURY
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CROUCH HILL
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DEPTFORD
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BATTERSEA
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COVENT GARDEN
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WALTHAMSTOW
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TOTTENHAM
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CHARLTON
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BRICK LANE
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CAMDEN
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CAMDEN TOWN
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SHOREDITCH
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SHEPHERDS BUSH
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SOUTH TOTTENHAM
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SOUTH TOTTENHAM
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CAMBRIDGE HEATH
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POPLAR
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PADDINGTON GREEN
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CATFORD
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STRATFORD
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HACKNEY
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FARRINGDON ROAD
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KINGS CROSS
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NEW CROSS
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BRIXTON
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CLERKENWELL
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TOTTENHAM
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ELEPHANT & CASTLE
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SOUTH KENSINGTON
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LIMEHOUSE
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BELLINGHAM
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WATERLOO
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PIMLICO
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CAMDEN TOWN
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SHOREDITCH
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BROMLEY - TRAVEL AGENTS
Holidaymakers are turning their backs on the traditional high-street travel agent in favour of booking trips online.
BROMLEY
A reminder of the long gone Leicester Building Society who merged with the Alliance in 1985 to form the Alliance & Leicester Building Society
PECKHAM
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CAMDEN TOWN
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ACTON
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RICHMOND
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GOLBORNE ROAD
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BROMLEY
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CAMBERWELL
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CHALK FARM
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DALSTON
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STOKE NEWINGTON
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DAGENHAM
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DENMARK HILL
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DEPTFORD
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FARRINGDON
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DALSTON
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CATFORD
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HANWELL
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ELTHAM
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GLOBE TOWN
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CAMDEN TOWN
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FINSBURY PARK
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MAZE HILL
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FINSBURY PARK
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FOREST HILL
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KENNINGTON
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HAYES
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STOKE NEWINGTON
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KENTISH TOWN
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ANGEL
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CROYDON
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KINGS CROSS
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PALMERS GREEN
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PIMLICO
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OLD STREET
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PALMERS GREEN
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WALTHAMSTOW
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WALTHAMSTOW
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SEVEN SISTERS
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PIMLICO
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CATFORD
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KENSINGTON
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GREENWICH
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WILLESDEN
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BALHAM
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WHITECHAPEL
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SHOREDITCH
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TOTTENHAM
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TUFNELL PARK
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WALTHAMSTOW
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SHOREDITCH
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EAST DULWICH
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WALTHAMSTOW
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LEA BRIDGE ROAD
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VICTORIA
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WALTHAMSTOW
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BOROUGH
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SHEPHERDS BUSH STATION - BEFORE DEMOLITION
HOMERTON
This newsagent has magazines on the door dating from late 80s/early 90s (above 2 pics courtesy of Dave Tanner)
HOMERTON
derelict shoe makers/repairers (courtesy of Dave Tanner)
BARKING (courtesy of Simon)
CLAPHAM OLD TOWN
MARBLE ARCH BATTERSEA ARCHWAY
Some derelict restaurants/takeaways.
ACTON
ARCHWAY NEW CROSS
EAST ACTON GREENWICH
SIDCUP, DA14 - VARIOUS EMPTY SHOPS
The credit crunch comes to Sidcup.........
CAMBERWELL
KINGS CROSS
CAMBERWELL
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www.derelictlondon.com
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Want present day pics of your old haunts?
Researching your family tree and need location pics?
Pictures taken to order - low cost - any job considered
(not just derelicts!).
Much cheaper than professional photographers
Contact: Paul at derelictlondon.com
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