Grim times for once-thriving Bexley shopping hub now feeling the pinch

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Service

Families in one of the capital’s most deprived neighbourhoods fear supermarkets and shuttered banks have killed off their “buzzing high street” in Bexley and claim people used to shop locally like Christmas dinner was “every week”.

The Office for National Statistics last week published data from the 2021 census showing which areas in London had the greatest degree of deprivation.

According to the data, up to 48.8 per cent of households in Northumberland Heath in Bexley are deprived – factoring in housing, health, employment or education.

Dave Leak, 38, grew up in Barnehurst but has worked in a bike shop in Bexley Road in North Heath for 16 years.

He said shops in the area have lost a lot of passing trade since the banks on the high street have closed, and that he has only sold ten per cent of what he usually would at Christmas time.

He said: “The last decade or so, we had the bank crash in 2009, people have started trying to save money. I think that’s what has happened, a lot of people have also moved on to the internet as well. So they just don’t come to the high streets.”

Mr Leak said he thinks the difficulties business have been facing is down to issues on a national scale, not local – even in light of local census data.

He said: “The more recent decline is not because of North Heath or the people that live here. It’s purely because of the cost of living and no one’s got any cash.

“It doesn’t matter who you talk to, doesn’t matter what they’re selling or what they’re doing for work. No one’s doing the business that they were six months ago.”

Jason Morgan, 55, opened Morgan’s greengrocer on Bexley Road 15 years ago. As a self-proclaimed “Saturday boy”, Mr Morgan has worked in greengrocers in the Heath for 40 years.

Since the banks in Bexley Road have closed, Mr Morgan said shops in the high street have seen a huge drop in footfall. He said: “The pavements were buzzing, there were so many people on the pavements. Now, you can look down it and not see a soul.”

Mr Morgan said as recently as 20 years ago, people were buying groceries as if Christmas dinner was “every week”. He said: “People bought far more fruit and veg then than they do now. Everyone on a Saturday morning had a great big carrier bag of potatoes.”

The greengrocer owner said he feels modern supermarkets have taken over the borough, driving people away from shopping locally when there used to be three greengrocers, four butchers and three bakers in North Heath alone.

He said: “Everyone says it’s sad that it’s gone like that. But the public went with it. They stopped going to the butcher, they stopped going to the greengrocer, all these little shops. And then they wonder why they all close.

“In a few years time, these big supermarkets will do exactly what the banks have done. They will close all their stores, they will take them all out and you will be forced to do online shopping.”

The high street in North Heath has a Tesco Express facing several locals shops on the road. Erith town centre, located ten minutes away, also has an Iceland and Morrison’s supermarket, built in 1998.

Sean Walls lived in North Heath from 2002 to 2010, but still works in the area as a window cleaner. He said new flats have taken away green spaces around Erith and made the area more “unsafe”, making it more difficult to meet as a community.

He said it all added to a sense of something being lost in a once-thriving community.

Pictured top: Jason Morgan shown in Morgan’s greengrocer on Bexley Road. (Picture: Joe Coughlan)