Traders in limbo as market closes over crime fears

Traders have been left facing uncertainty after the announcement that an indoor market in east London is set to shut at the end of March - a devastating blow for those who have spent decades building their livelihoods there.

The closure comes after the Metropolitan Police raised urgent concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour at the Ridley Road Shopping Village in Dalston.

The decision has been criticised, with a campaign group describing it as a "collective punishment".

Landlord Larochette Real Estate said the closure was to "draw a clear line under historic challenges" and that traders "not involved in antisocial behaviour" will be able to reapply and given temporary sites.

A Met spokesperson said police and Hackney Council issued a Community Protection Warning to the building's owner and management company on 6 February, urging them to tighten regulation of business units "contributing to crime and antisocial behaviour".

Officers were later informed that several units had been closed in response, before the landlord took "an independent decision" to shut the entire indoor market from 31 March.

Fatmata Kamara, who has sold clothing and bedding in the market for 13 years, said the decision had left her "emotionally, physically and mentally" distressed.

"I've been serving the community for decades," she said. "If they knew that people are misbehaving in the building, why can't they confront them or dismiss them?"

Record shop owner Peter Dissi said the end of lease notices came without warning.

"The concerns raised in the letter - we had no prior notice of," he said, adding that parts of the building had become derelict, contributing to loss of trade and causing antisocial behaviour.

For him, the market holds a personal connection: "I've been coming here since I was a small boy with my own parents. We all have a vested interest in the market in terms of what it provides."

A spokesperson for Larochette Real Estate said they had recently met the local authority, representatives of the affected businesses and the Save Ridley Road community group, and claimed all parties "share the same long-term vision for the site".

They said: "Affected businesses are not being evicted. Their tenancies are coming to an end and will not be renewed.

"Businesses who have not been involved in antisocial behaviour and who are not in significant rent arrears will be offered temporary accommodation within the building or outdoor pitches."

Hackney mayor Caroline Woodley said the council was supporting affected traders with discounted street market pitches and alternative premises.

Danny Hayward, who is part of the Save Ridley Road group, said: "If everyone is evicted, it feels like collective punishment.

"They are afraid of losing their livelihoods."

Traders said they had received limited communication from Larochette Real Estate and there was a lack of a good landlord-tenant relationship.

Hayward explained there was a "long history of broken promises, lack of trust, [and] frustration on the part of traders who have been trying to keep their businesses going and have showed significant resilience.

"They find it hard to trust promises which are just verbal."

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