Camden Market will be ‘wiped out’ if weekend Tube closures go ahead

Published: 4 February 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

CAMDEN market could be “wiped out” by more than a year and a half of weekend Northern Line closures, business leaders have warned.
Tube Lines, the firm upgrading the service, have announced they plan to close stations on the line for 82 weekends, starting from March.
Although it is not yet clear which stations will be affected and precisely when, the revelations have sparked anger from traders who fear they will not survive the closures.
Tube Lines has already been criticised for huge delays in completing works on the Jubilee Line, which are expected to finish in October – 10 months late. Traders in West Hampstead have suffered huge financial losses as a result.
Kleo Kleanthous, who sells CDs in Camden Market, said he would not survive similar closures of Camden Town Tube station.
“It would kill us,” he said. “The Northern Line was closed a couple of weekends ago and it was really tough. Around 80 per cent of our business comes from tourists and they use the Tube. They don’t get to us without it. This is the last thing we need.”
Simon Pitkeathley, chief executive of Camden Town Unlimited, a group representing businesses in the area, added: “We obviously recognise the long-term gain, but how much pain you can bear to get there is the question.”
Transport for London confirmed Tube Lines is seeking 82 closures. The company initially asked for 50 weekend closures on the Jubilee Line – but already the line has been closed for 125 weekends.
Jitendra Thakorlal, who represents traders in West Hampstead, said the delay has crippled businesses in the area.
He said: “The mayor knows that this company is not capable of delivering, so why give them this job? I can’t understand it, it’s extraordinary. Have they learnt nothing from this fiasco?
Tube Lines has also announced it will close the entire line an hour early every day for 16 months. Stations will close at 11.30pm from July – reducing the number of trains from 8.30pm.
Transport for London could not confirm how many trains would run after 8.30pm but a spokesman said it was likely the last trains leaving central London would be as early as 10.30pm.
Camden houses 10 Northern Line stations.
Naomi Phillips, 28, who lives in Arlington Road and works in central London, said: “For too long the residents of Camden Town have been penalised with a sub-standard service. Our access to Camden Town Tube is permanently and severely restricted on weekends.
“Now the news that we will now be forced to take longer and unfamiliar routes home because there are no later trains in the evening is not only deeply frustrating but possibly dangerous for women travelling home late at night.”
Kirsty Innes, 27, a ­civil servant who lives in Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill, added: “I am outraged. It means I will either have to get a bus – increasing my journey time and meaning a longer walk home late at night, often by myself – or cut my night short.”
A spokeswoman for Tube Lines said the work will transform the often sluggish Northern line to provide a new signalling system, which will allow more trains to run per hour.