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Cockney’s in Notting Hill – one of our favourite pie and mash shops in London – has seen thousands of people sign a petition to keep it open.
The Portobello Road restaurant’s landlord is apparently looking to double the rent from £31,500-a-year to £64,000, reports Standard, which will make it impossible for owner Ruth Phillips to keep it open. Speaking to the newspaper, Phillips said: ‘I’m devastated. I know the amount I can afford and it’s certainly not £64,000. Nobody else is paying these high rents. They go between £30,000 to £40,000… I would not be able to survive.’
Joe Powell, the MP for Kensington and Bayswater, has sponsored a petition asking the landlord to reconsider the rent hike. ‘Cockney’s is a family business that Ruth has operated here for more than three decades, and is loved by our community. It is one of the only pie and mash shops still operating in West London,’ writes Powell.
He adds: ‘Already, residents tell me they are fed up watching popular local businesses get pushed out to make way for yet more souvenir shops, slot machines, casinos and chain coffee shops.’
A rarity in west London, Cockney’s Pie & Mash sits at the north end of Portobello Road near Trellick Tower.
Our review of Cockney’s reads: ‘Opened at the end of the twentieth century, it’s a relatively new kid on the block, yet the food is authentic: slopped into heavy white china bowls, the pies have a suet bottom and a buttery crust, while the crockery prevents the outrageous helping of thick liquor from spilling on to the table.’
The best pie and mash shops in London, according to Time Out.
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