There’s something quietly heartbreaking about walking Putney High Street these days.
Not because it’s a wasteland — though we’ve come dangerously close. And not because people don’t care — they do, fiercely. It’s heartbreaking because for every hopeful sign, there’s a story of silent collapse. For every return — like Marks & Spencer reopening after seven lost years — there’s a Grape Tree, an Enzo Uomo, a Be At One.
New openings, proud frontages, successful businesses — all quietly struggling, or quietly leaving. Each in its own way, a signal that Putney’s High Street still has life. And each, in its own way, a warning that life alone isn’t enough.
A promising arrival — and an empty aisle
Walk to the back wall of the Putney Exchange — past the forgotten escalator and opposite the boarded-up Wilko — and you’ll find a brand-new store, Grape Tree, selling wholefoods and dried goods in the kind of bulk bags that should appeal to health-conscious, eco-minded locals.
It’s the kind of business we’ve often said we need more of. But when we visited, no one was there — not even the assistant, who emerged from the back room surprised to see a customer. “I didn’t hear you come in,” she said, embarrassed. “It’s been really slow.”
And it’s no wonder. The Exchange’s back wall has suffered years of neglect. People long ago stopped wandering its forgotten corridors. When the stores left – Huttons most recently – the footfall vanished too — and now even the businesses brave enough to return find themselves adrift.
Another High Street shop gives up the fight
Across the road, in a shop directly opposite the Exchange and next to the M&S revival, Enzo Uomo has huge posters plastered across its windows: “Closing Down Sale — Everything Must Go.”
It’s a prime location. Or at least, it should be. But the store owner tells us that despite the visibility, he’s calling it quits next month. Too few people walk past. There isn’t enough business to keep him going.
The irony is hard to miss. M&S, whose long-vacant shell once symbolised the street’s decline, is finally being revived. But it took seven years — and for some neighbours, it’s already too late.
Even success can’t survive the rent
A few hundred metres down, near Putney Bridge, the cocktail bar Be At One is shutting its doors. Not because it failed. Not because the community didn’t show up. But because the landlord hiked the rent — and the chain decided Putney simply wasn’t worth it anymore.
“It’s frustrating,” one staff member tells us. “But the landlord has tried to hike the rent. It’s just too high.” The agent – Restaurant Property – has already put it on the market [pdf].
The team will be moved to other London locations — there are 17 more across the capital. But Putney will have one less. And no one knows what will take its place.
The neighbouring Boilermaker, another cocktail bar, never found a replacement tenant. Now it’s been taken over by squatters. Meanwhile, in the same block, pizza chain Franca Manca has applied for pavement seating to bring an al fresco feel to this part of the High Street.
A pattern — and a warning
Put these stories together and a pattern emerges: Putney is not short on potential. It is short on care, coordination, and urgency.
Shops open, but no one walks in. Shops survive, but landlords push them out. Shops endure, but not forever — not in a place where footfall flatlines and decision-makers look the other way.
We’ve seen it before: Wasabi gone. Subway gone. Wilko shut. The parade of closures has become so familiar we barely flinch. But if Grape Tree and Be At One and Enzo Uomo are warning signs — and they are — then maybe this is our last chance to act before even the hopeful stories end in the same silence.
As was made abundantly clear this week, our political representatives aren’t going to act so if people want to revive what was once a thriving High Street, then it really is time to figure it out ourselves.
Putney high street has tons of footfall but the mix of businesses just doesn’t seem to meet the needs of residents.
I live in Putney and I’m just shocked how badly managed are the rents Properites and te type of business survive ( a countless number of mobile phone shops, vape shops).
Finally we have a nice butcher on the high street, it would be lovely to have some homeware.
I don’t understand why it’s so bad. No one wants cheap shops on the high street.
Why are there so many barbershops in Putney now, especially on the high street? I wonder how many of them are just a front for money laundering, especially the ones that are “cash only”. I passed by another boarded up storefront today and guess what’s coming up there? Yes, yet another barbershop.