Market traders to face 50% rent hikes - Plender Street stallholders must pay £3,700 a year

Published: 24 March 2011
by KARINA WHALLEY

TRADERS in a Camden Town street have been hit by a 50 per cent rent hike.

Stallholders in Plender Street have been told by the Town Hall they must now find £3,700 a year, instead of the £2,500 they currently pay.

The council says the increase is necessary to bring rents in Plender Street in line with other market areas.

Clifford Smith, 58, has been selling pet food in Plender Street for 18 years. He said: “There was no consultation with us at all. It was like an ultimatum that seemed to say ‘tough luck to you guys’. This could well sound the death knell of Plender Street.” Mr Smith (pictured), who lives in Kentish Town, added: “No other market in Camden has had this big a hike. We’re the ones disproportionately suffering. It’s so unfair. You can’t have a one-size-fits-all policy because of the variety in products and area. This is a poor area and we’re just a community market. It’s a different planet to Camden Market.” 

He said he would now have to give up one of his stalls, adding: “I understand that times are bad but there could have been a more even-handed way of doing this.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The increase in charges for Plender Street Market bring it in line with other similar street markets across Camden.” She added that traders were informed of an increase in rates after notices were published in the local Press.