The scrooge spirit spreads to Southside

I'm just getting news that shops in the Southside shopping centre in Wandsworth - including the RSPCA charity shop - have been served eviction notices by the centre's management and have to be out early in the new year.

Notices have been served on several of the small and family-run businesses in the shopping centre - some of which have been in the Arndale Centre for a generation - with no possibility of renewal or moving to different units.

As my mum worked for over thirty years in the Arndale and as I too had Summer jobs there when I was growing up, I want to see Southside improved and the variety of shops increased: but I don't believe that this needs to happen at the expense of outlets like the RSPCA charity shop. Having allowed Putney High Street to become one of the blandest "clone" shopping centres in the country* I hope the Tory Council won't let the same happen with Southside.

We should be encouraging local stores with roots in the community, and I'm fully behind the storeholders' campaign to stay put. They've already collected over 300 signatures in support in the short time since they were served notice - I urge everyone to join in this fight.

* A 2005 national shoppers survey rated Putney High Street as one of the five worst "clone" shopping centres - meaning areas with few independent retailers and with too many shops selling almost identical itemss - in the whole country.