A family-run laundrette in South Kensington is at risk of eviction after serving the community for 25 years, its co-owner has revealed. The business, located on Glendower Place, faces an uncertain future after the building's owner, Jersey-based Adhara Property Holdings Limited, secured planning permission to convert three units into one larger retail space.
The Kensington and Chelsea Planning Sub-Committee approved plans in late May to amalgamate the laundrette, a greengrocers, and a café into a single retail unit. While no formal eviction notice has been issued, co-owner Nasim Ahmed, 48, anticipates a six-month window to vacate once it arrives.
“Mentally it is disturbing as it’s always there. When you have a job you don’t have to worry about what you’re doing,” he said. “In six months I don’t know what I will do – I’m not qualified to do anything else.”
The laundrette attracts customers from across the borough, including Notting Hill and Portobello. Mr Ahmed has been searching for an alternative site, but due to high rental costs in the area, he believes he would have to leave South Kensington entirely. “We will have to close completely if we go to a new area – our customers won’t come there,” he explained, adding, “We bring in a lot of value, customers trust us with their clothes and their belongings.”
Mr Ahmed attended the Planning Sub-Committee on May 28 to plead his case, telling councillors that the decision would effectively end his long-standing business. “If you vote yes today, you are voting to physically remove my shop from this high street – you are voting for closing down a business that has served this community for a quarter of a century,” he said.
He expressed disappointment that the sub-committee approved the application, especially given that his business had survived both the 2008 financial crash and the Covid-19 pandemic. “This decision is in the benefit of the landlord but they always promise they protect small businesses – the reality is the opposite,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The sub-committee heard that no change of use is required in the application, meaning it is not within planning policy to object to an amalgamation. A report to the sub-committee stated it is no longer the role of Kensington and Chelsea Council to “try and curate what it might see as the best balance of uses in a centre.” The application also includes an increase of five square meters of commercial floorspace, deemed to refresh the shop front and preserve the area's aesthetic.
A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson said: “We appreciate that there are always a range of feelings around planning applications, and we are committed to supporting small businesses, independent traders and a diverse local economy wherever we can. At the same time, planning decisions must be made based on the powers available to us. In this case, there was no proposed change of use, and the council cannot use the planning system to choose future tenants, decide whether a unit is occupied by an independent business or a larger retailer, or intervene in commercial lease arrangements.”
Adhara Property Holdings Limited did not provide a comment on the planning application.
