E5 Bakehouse backs battle to save good food arches
Guardians of the Arches are campaigning to save thousands of British businesses, including many of London’s good food champions, from Network Rail’s plan to sell off Britain’s railway arches to the highest bidder.
As part of the plan 5,500 railway arches across the UK will be up for sale by August this year, affecting thousands of small, local, food businesses, including E5 Bakehouse, London Fields Breweries, and Climpson’s Coffee. The arches are valued at around £1.2 billion, and Network Rail is currently in the advanced stages of selling the arches to bidders such as Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and Terra Firma, who would receive the arches on a 999-year lease.
Whilst the scheduled plans may come as a shock, Network Rail have already put significant pressure on these SME businesses over the past few years, reportedly demanding 200-350% rent increases in order to increase the ‘long term value’ of the arches. Consequently, many long-standing businesses have already been driven out, having to permanently close their doors or relocate elsewhere and leave their communities behind.
To stop the sale of the UK’s railway arches to multinational corporations and protect their businesses, hundreds of small traders from Gateshead, London, Manchester, and other areas across the UK have united to form a nationwide pressure-group, ‘Guardians of the Arches’. Last Tuesday, members of the group gathered in Parliament to launch its campaign to #SaveOurArches.
The Big Issue’s Lord John Bird, is also a long-term supporter of the campaign, and spoke against the planned sell-off in a letter to the Secretary of State. He described the arches as “places where unique and enterprising small businesses have flourished…these small businesses are the lifeblood of Britain’s economy and I am deeply concerned that such sharp rental increases and proposed sale if the properties will mean that few, if any, of these businesses will survive.”
Guardians of the Arches has also received backing from both the Labour and Liberal Democrat political parties including Hackney South and Shoreditch MP, Meg Hiller, who has been a part of the campaign from the beginning. Last week, Jeremy Corbyn, shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald, and Liberal Democrat Baroness Bakewell, added their support in a signed letter to transport secretary Chris Grayling, calling him to delay Network Rail’s planned sale and give traders a better say in their future.
Support Guardians of the Arches and sign their open letter to #SaveOurArches.
Published Tuesday 19 June 2018
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