Putney High Street is a place of contrasts right now — plywood and balloons, smashed windows and salon makeovers, K9 units and candy stores. While the ongoing squatter crisis has spurred landlords to beef up security and board up buildings, a few new openings are defying the gloom — and one former mobile shop has become a kind of local legend.
Let’s start with the bad news.
Security guards are now a permanent fixture at both entrances to Lidl and Boots, following reports of suspicious activity near the occupied Ramna restaurant. Simmons Bar, which once hosted hen parties and happy hours, has now disappeared behind an unbroken wall of timber. There’s no longer even a door — just a blank façade where a business used to be. It joins the Boilermaker and the White Lion in the High Street’s growing gallery of boarded-up nightlife.
Even open businesses aren’t escaping unscathed. Bosa Lounge is still trading, but one of its three front windows has been replaced with thick plywood after being smashed. Just down the street, Putney Convenience Store appears to have been targeted repeatedly — one window bears the clear marks of having been kicked in more than once.
And then there’s the grand guessing game: Which type of business will Putney High Street be overrun with next — estate agents, vape shops, nail salons, or fried chicken joints? If you had your money on “yet another phone and vape store”, congratulations: the former Whoop Hair Salon at No. 83 is getting a makeover, but not the sort that involves balayage and blowouts.
Still, there are flickers of life amid the gloom.
A brand-new Stonehenge Food & Wine has just opened on the corner of Lower Richmond Road, tucked between River Homes and A&N Style. It opened with balloons, which feels like a radical act of optimism right now. And further up the road, the constantly reincarnating shop at 65 Putney High Street — most famous as the former O2 store but more recently a surreal mash-up of pet grooming and candy sales — has announced its latest transformation.
It’s going to become The Putney Hub. What’s inside? According to its new sign: mobile phone repairs, Big Joe’s Barbers, a wellness clinic, and yes, a pet grooming salon. If that sounds like the setup to a sitcom, we’re inclined to agree.
In all, the High Street looks like a town holding its breath. With squatters still in at least two locations, landlords have turned to security firms, court orders, and construction boards. The council remains quiet. And while the authorities are actively monitoring the situation, the shape of Putney’s recovery will depend on whether businesses feel confident investing again — or whether another round of evictions, vandalism, and half-baked commercial makeovers pushes things further toward the absurd.
One thing’s for sure: if you ever wanted to get your dog groomed, your phone fixed, your chakras balanced and your sweet tooth indulged — all in one shop — you’re in luck.
I know that all the High Street supermarkets have security guards stationed within and have for some time.
I imagine this is due to the levels of shoplifting caused by general poverty rather than being directly attributable to the influx of squatters as implied in this otherwise chatty and informative article.
It’s true many shops have security guards but in the past few days they have been at the entrance and purposefully visible. Normally they are in the store checking for shoplifters.