'Parking rules killed my business' says East End printer whose firm survived the Blitz

 
Shut down: Arber and Co in Roman Road, Bow - a parking enforcement zone (Picture: Google Streetview)
Robin de Peyer12 June 2014

The owner of an East End printing shop that survived two World Wars and has been trading for over a century says he has been forced out of business by a parking spy camera.

W.F. Arber & Co, which dates back to 1897, shut its doors for the last time after customers complained they were being hit with fines by a permanent CCTV camera on a pole outside it.

The shop, in Bow, east London, has been run by its 82-year-old proprietor Albert Arber for 60 years and has printed pamphlets for Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Suffragettes during the course of its long history.

But despite surviving the Blitz, a notice was put up in its window last month explaining why its time is finally up.

It read: "Advance Notice – This shop will be closing at the end of May. We have been here for 117 years, printed for the Suffragettes, survived enemy bombing through two World Wars and now we are finished due to Tower Hamlets Council’s parking policy."

W.F. Arber & Co was situated in the heart of Roman Road, which was singled out by self-styled retail guru Mary Portas as an area ripe for the regeneration of local businesses.

But Mr Arber has found that the £65 parking fines being issued to drivers popping into the shop has had a devastating impact on his trade.

"Once bitten, they just don’t come back again," he told the Daily Mail. "It’s been bad for the last ten years or so, ever since the council introduced harsher parking restrictions. Once, it was possible to park everywhere round here for free.

"The rates used to be manageable but now they just don’t make sense. The council makes more than we do out of the shop," added Mr Arber, who inherited the shop which was built by his grandfather while Queen Victoria was still on the throne.

Tower Hamlets council said it had no control over the sky high business rates of £6,300 which are contributing to the shop's downfall.

A spokeswoman added: "This year the council has assisted all local retail businesses, including W.F. Arbour and Sons on Roman Road, with accessing £1,000 of Local Retail Relief for small local businesses, to support them in paying their business rates.

"The Roman Road area has a good mix of residential permit bays, pay and display bays and a car park which has recently been awarded Park Mark status, and there should be no need for shoppers to park in a ‘no parking’ zone."

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