Money shops
Hi All – I live on Clapton Square and absolutely love the area. I have noticed that 2 new money shops / pawn brokers have opened on Narrow Way in the last few months – this brings the total to 5 similar outfits within less than 100 metres. This is really worrying – these \shops” offer short term loans with exorbitant interest rates and exploit those already in living in poverty. What I want to know is why the Hackney Council is allowing these shops to open in such close proximity to each other? Is there anything that can be done about this? Why couldn’t these retail units have been put to better use? The number of betting and money shops in Hackney is out of control – not a good sign for the area.”
monkchips
dont know the answer but i suspect no permission is required for change of use to become a money lender. if a shop has been used for financial services before, it doesn’t need to reapply for change of use- which is why so many banks and post offices are now bookies. narrow way is clearly not a \destination” and i suspect they find it hard to let the units. short of opening some other shops it not clear what you’d do about it. “
mattyc
My guess is that, like betting shops, the council cannot prevent them opening because they are classified as \finanical services”. A mad bit of legislation but out of local authorities’ hands (there’s an article here about bookies)”