Clarence Road shops struggle to rise from ashes of the Hackney riots
Cherry Pratt, who runs Fingerlicking Caribbean Takeaway in Clarence Road. Photograph: Tim Sullivan
“Business is not happening.” These are the words of Kirk Pratt, whose mother runs Fingerlicking Caribbean Takeaway in Clarence Road, Hackney.
Kirk and his mother Cherry have seen business in their shop fall away alarmingly since the riots hit Hackney on Monday 8 August.
Many of the traders in the road seem to be suffering a similar fate. This is true at both ends of the road, the Clapton end and the end that starts opposite the Narroway, which is where we meet up with the Pratts in their shop.
Kirk tells us that his mother often starts work at five or six in the morning and that they have had their business for 18 months, although they have lived in Clarence Road for nearly ten years. We are also joined by Rose Lewis who runs the bookshop next door.
One positive legacy of the riots is the recent formation of a Clarence Road Traders’ and Residents’ Association (CLARTRA), designed to boost business and community spirit.
The new group will be holding a festival in the road on the weekend of 3-4 December.
Traders are also campaigning for Christmas street lights, better security in shops, and to ensure those shops damaged in the disturbances get compensation from a special Government fund.
Many traders on the road have felt isolated, but by coming together they have been able to pool ideas about business. They can “see others going through what you’re going through,” Rose tells us.
The association has helped to highlight the issues that small, independent businesses face. Traders hope that the worst of their problems could soon be behind them. “It’s such a big wound,” says Rose.
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