The most notorious unit on Putney High Street is finally getting a proper fit-out.
Workers stripped out the interior of 67 Putney High Street this week, ripping out the ceiling, exposing the wiring and installing a new shopfront frame, the first proper fit-out the unit has seen in years.
The photograph tells the story. The old black fascia still shows fragments of the neon “Pet Shop” sign. Behind it, the interior has been gutted to the concrete. Yellow framing marks the outline of a new, much larger display window. This is not a lick of paint. Something is actually happening.
The unit that is finally getting attention has one of the more colourful recent histories on the High Street.
A complex history
The property spent over a decade as an O2 store, then sat empty for a year after the phone retailer vacated. A pet grooming shop opened around 2022, which evolved into something more ambitious: as we reported in August 2025, if you wanted your dog groomed, your phone repaired, your chakras balanced and your sweet tooth satisfied in one visit, this was briefly your place. The owner, trading as The Putney Hub, had plans for a barbershop and wellness clinic too.
It did not go to plan. By December 2025, we reported that the owner had other things on his mind.
Then came the squatters, and, in February 2026, a High Court possession order. The landlord, Corndale Estates Limited, had enforcement agents formally take the building back. Three weeks later, squatters were back inside and defying the order. Police attended, said there was nothing they could do, and left.
That was March. This is May. The building is now a building site.
The block around it
The refit at number 67 is happening against a more complicated backdrop. The rest of the stretch (55 to 71 Putney High Street, owned by Marlborough Properties since a £13.3 million purchase in 2016) has been clearing since January, when the British Heart Foundation announced it was leaving this summer and several other units boarded up at once.
The two exceptions are the anchors. M&S returned in the spring after a seven-year absence, and our April survey found the Putney Convenience Store had remained open throughout, the one constant in the whole stretch. Beyond those two: boards, empty frontages, and lots of waiting. As of this week, no planning applications have been filed for the core Marlborough block units.
A refurbishment application for number 63 was filed in early May. Not yet open, but movement. The British Heart Foundation’s lease runs to June 2026.
What comes next
The incoming tenant at 67 has not yet been publicly announced. The strip-out under way this week suggests a decision has been made. We will update when we know.
The block around it remains in limbo. But something is happening, finally, at the unit that spent the last few years being everything except a functioning shop.
