Multiple shops on Putney High Street closed this week as property company Marlborough Properties appears to be clearing an entire block for redevelopment, with the British Heart Foundation confirming it will vacate the stretch this summer.
The former Paperchase unit, most recently trading as Enzo Uomo menswear and Putney Mobile and Computer, was completely boarded up on Tuesday. Eastern Natural Care, which previously operated from 71 Putney High Street, now has boards across its ground floor windows and both upper storeys. The pet grooming shop that operated in the same block has also shuttered.
Staff at the British Heart Foundation charity shop confirmed yesterday that their lease expires in June and the store will relocate further up Putney High Street to 87 High Street, the former EE mobile phone shop. That leaves only Putney Convenience Store still trading in the affected stretch between the returning Marks and Spencer store and the corner of Putney Bridge Road.
The transformation comes with no planning applications filed with Wandsworth Council for redevelopment work on the block, despite the scale of change appearing to affect both ground-floor retail units and residential flats above.
Marlborough Properties bought the stretch from 55 to 71 Putney High Street (excluding number 67, which houses a pet shop) for £13.3 million in 2016. The company has been actively managing the block, recently seeking to install security gates across Russell Yard, the service passage that runs behind the properties.
The timing creates a construction sandwich for Marks and Spencer’s Easter reopening. On one side, the new M&S store at 55-61 Putney High Street will face Marlborough’s apparent redevelopment work. On the other, the corner site at the junction with Putney Bridge Road is already being demolished for a 198-room Hub by Premier Inn hotel with ground-floor retail units, expected to complete in 2028.
For residents, the next two years promise significant disruption across this stretch of the High Street. But the alternative has been a slow deterioration, with the Ramna restaurant corner becoming a squatter haven before demolition began, and several units in the Marlborough block sitting empty or struggling.
Whether the disruption proves worthwhile depends on what Marlborough Properties builds and how quickly. Without planning applications to scrutinise, residents have no visibility into the company’s intentions for the site or timeline for completion. They could also do with making the frontages more appealing.
Putney.news has contacted Marlborough Properties for comment on their redevelopment plans but had not received a response by publication.
