Subway shuts down leaving Putney High Street with 23 empty shops

Sandwich shop Subway has become the latest business to flee Putney High Street, leaving 23 empty premises on the once-thriving retail spot.

As with the closure of Papa John’s pizza shop in March, the decision to close up the shop at 37 High Street is part of a larger corporate decision to close stores across the UK as part of a cost-cutting and profit-maximising measure.

Subway and its 37,000 worldwide stores were sold to private equity firm Roark Capital in May for $9.6bn. Although the 1,747 Subway stores in the UK and 221 in London are independently owned and operated on a franchise model – common in the fast-food industry – the owner in this case has decided to walk away.

In the United States, Subway remains the largest food chain with over 20,000 locations – 4,000 more than Starbucks and 7,000 more than McDonalds – but it closed more than 400 in 2023 and is set to close more this year.

Unfortunately, the store on Putney High Street has not been left in a clean state: the windows are unpapered and the Subway sign has been torn off, leaving the plywood exposed and adding to the general sense of decay in Putney.

What is notable is that it is now fast food restaurants that are shutting down. Putney residents have long complained about the number of them on the High Street: with 15 outlets they are now the dominant business on what used to be a premium shopping spot. The High Street may have reached peak-fast-food.

Hot button topic

The state of Putney High Street became a frequent issue raised during the recent election campaign, with all candidates promising to do something about the situation.

The previous and new MP, Fleur Anderson, was repeatedly criticised for not doing anything to stop the increase in closed businesses from 3 to over 20 under her watch, while Conservative candidate Lee Roberts said he wanted to make Putney “the foodie capital of London” by opening a farmers market on the new park overlooking the Thames created as a result of the super sewer project.

The Liberal Democrats’ Kieren McCarthy promised to revitalise the High Street through a charity called Save The High Street that seeks to introduce local businesses into closed shops, help them pick up customers, and then support them to take over the lease.

The huge increase in fast food joints on the High Street was made possible by Wandsworth Council failing to reintroduce caps on certain types of business after it introduced new use classes included in the Business and Planning Act 2020.

‘Class E’ is a broad category of commercial, business and service uses that encompasses the previous Class A1 (retail), Class A2 (financial and professional services), A3 (restaurants/cafes), B1 (offices) along with health/medical uses, creches, nurseries (all formerly D1 uses) and indoor sports/recreation (formerly D2 use). 

A business does not need to permission to shift from one class to another under the Class E system, so there was nothing to prevent the massive increase in fast food businesses.

High Street trivia

Some Subway / Putney High Street trivia for you: there was previous a Subway further up the High Street: at 150 High Street but it closed back in 2020 and remained empty for four years. That space has just reopened as a nail bar: to go with the other six nail bars that are already on the High Street.