Empty shops across Putney town centre, one dark for at least four years, are filling again.
Six shopfronts, on four roads and inside Putney Exchange, have new occupiers or are about to. A spa has replaced an estate agent. A Pilates studio is coming to the old EE shop. And a corner that has been shut for at least four years is being fitted out as a coffee shop.
It is a change from December, when a run of empty shopfronts stretched along the top of Putney High Street, opposite the station. Since then Neutra Kitchen, a Mayfair kitchenware specialist, has opened in the old Liliya Art Gallery unit on the High Street, and a florist and dry-cleaner has opened inside Putney Exchange, both in July’s rundown of new shops.
Number 87 Putney High Street was EE’s shop, and its windows still carry the posters. “We have a new home,” they say, giving the Southside Shopping Centre in Wandsworth and adding: “We’re an 8 minute drive away.” A blue Club Pilates sticker in the window reads “Opening this fall”, above one word: “Putney”. It gives no date.
Club Pilates is an American reformer Pilates franchise whose first London studios, at Bankside and Fulham Broadway, opened in 2024. You may have seen a man on stilts standing in the doorway smoking; he’s a painter.
Further along the High Street, at number 168, is White Panda Spa. Brinkley’s estate agents left that unit late last year for Upper Richmond Road. The fascia now advertises massage and reflexology, with a phone number, and posters for both fill the window.
Inside Putney Exchange, The Bag Company has taken the unit that L’Occitane en Provence used to have. Handbags fill one window and suitcases the other, and the shop was lit and staffed when we popped in at the weekend.
On Upper Richmond Road, a round sign at number 294 reads The Window Studio, “Where design meets craftsmanship”. The unit was Bubble East Cafe, dark for at least two years. The fascia is still covered in taped paper and the shop is bare inside, but work is progressing. Next door, Screwfix now trades from the old Hare and Tortoise restaurant; in January, both units stood empty. Further along the road, Pulse Club, a sauna and cold plunge club, opened at number 228 in May.
On Putney Bridge Road, another Pilates studio has appeared at number 214, making six in total. Studio Pilates opened on Upper Richmond Road in 2024; the Fitness Exchange gym inside Putney Exchange also has a reformer studio on its first floor. And Sculpt House opened in August on Lacy Road.
Club Pilates, The Window Studio and the coffee shop have yet to open. Know of another unit that has changed hands? Tell us in the comments below.
On Gwalior Road, the corner shop Putney Baby Photography used to occupy has been shut for at least four years. The fascia still reads Putney Baby, the lettering on the glass still lists maternity, newborn, children and family photography, and through the window a ladder stands on a bare floor beside a cardboard box. Its owner told Putney.news it is going to be a coffee shop, and a contractor is fitting out the inside.
