It's all over now for Mick Jagger's Notting Hill video store

 
Notting Hill institution: Video City is closing down after 30 years (Picture: Alex Lentati)
Alex Lentati

A DVD and video rental store which counts Sir Mick Jagger, Richard Curtis and Laura Bailey among its customers is closing after 30 years.

Video City on Notting Hill Gate, thought to be one of the last of a tiny handful of high street rental shops left in London, will shut its doors for the final time on June 24.

Owner Simon Brzeskwinski said he had been defeated by “a perfect storm of events” that included soaring business rates, the opening of Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush, the departure of customers from the area as property prices rose and Apple’s decision not to include a DVD player in its newest laptops.

The final straw came when three months of Thames Water roadworks last year deterred dozens of renters “who didn’t come back”.

The store opened in 1985. It stocks about 7,000 titles and is known for its huge range of arthouse, foreign and independently made movies, many of which are impossible to access through online streaming services.

Other stars known to have been customers include Sir Anthony Hopkins, Harold Pinter and Will Self, who wrote in a blog how “I often called on them to obtain some obscure early Kurosawa” during his time as a film critic.

Bailey tweeted: “End of an era. Will miss everything about @videocitylondon. Movie magic via a local landmark and emotional anchor.”

It's only a video store, but I like: Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger is a Video City regular
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Mr Brzeskwinski said he had been dumbfounded by the outpourings of support — including financial help — and shock from residents after he announced he was closing.

He wrote on the shop’s website: “Many of you have been wondering why we are closing. To set the record straight, we have a good landlord with whom we have had a fantastic relationship for all these years.

“The real issue is not the rent, but other spiralling costs (primarily exorbitant business rates) and rapidly declining revenues.” He said rates had almost doubled from £13,000 to about £25,000 a year since 2010.

Favourite: Laura Bailey is a customer at the store
Dave Benett

He said he was considering setting up an online version of Video City but that would not replace the face-to-face experience. He added: “I skipped to work for 30 years, I enjoyed every single minute of it. It’s that very personal service that people are going to miss, we’ve played a big part in the community.

“The sadness is that high streets are now just estate agent after estate agent, coffee shop after coffee shop, I’m very worried that by the time we realise the consequences of this economic cleansing of independent businesses it will be too late.”

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