New shops open on Putney High Street – as a Bridge Road favourite says it’s closing

HIGH STREET RUNDOWN Neutra Kitchen, the Mayfair kitchenware specialist that took over a unit empty for nearly two years, has opened on Putney High Street. A few hundred yards away, in Putney Exchange, a new florist and dry-cleaner has also opened its doors. And on Putney Bridge Road, one of the area’s longest-running independents says rising costs are about to close it down.

Neutra Kitchen’s arrival was first reported in June, when owner Kahn described wanting to “bring the good vibes back” to a street he remembers from its 1990s heyday. The shop is now trading, its hand-forged knives filling a unit that sat empty since the closure of Liliya Art Gallery.

In the Exchange, Press & Petal has opened, a single unit combining a florist, gifting, dry cleaning and tailoring, with a 50% off dry-cleaning launch offer running and “Thank You Teacher” bouquets in the window.

Round the corner on Lacy Road, Sculpt House London, the reformer Pilates studio that took over the site empty since Kashmir restaurant closed, is on track for its planned July opening, after what founder Melissa Masoud called a year of “legal battles, delays, setbacks, sleepless nights.” You can track progress on her Instagram.

Not everything is moving forward. The black paper that has covered Putney High Street’s shuttered Starbucks since it closed in November has come down. It isn’t clear yet whether that means a new tenant is being lined up, or whether the paper simply gave way after eight months.

The sharpest change is the one that hasn’t happened yet. The Dynamo, the cycling café on Putney Bridge Road known for its brunch and sourdough pizzas, has long been a Bridge Road favourite, and now we understand that it will close at the end of August, with rising costs and business rates blamed.