Businesses near a Tube station that is closed for repairs are bracing themselves for further losses with news that it now will not reopen until September.
Kentish Town station closed on June 26 last year to replace both of the 26-year-old escalators at the site which were described as “unreliable".
Transport for London pledged repairs would take a year but now this has been pushed back to September due to further improvement works to the station.
Traders near the station said they have seen a drop in sales.
Mo Miah, owner of Babuji, a south Asian restaurant facing the station entrance in Kentish Town Road said the delayed opening was "ridiculous".
"We are down 15 to 20% so it's quite significant," he said.
He says that last June he emailed his local councillor, Georgia Gould - who is also Camden Council leader - asking what help businesses would receive, but received no response.
"We've had absolutely no support from TfL or Camden Council. Grants would be good or business rates relief," he added.
Freddy Joel, manager of Turkish restaurant Gokyuzu next door, also said business was "difficult" and "very quiet" but that he had income through delivery from the Uber Eats system.
John and June Ngo, who own Tips n Toes, a nail salon at the top of Kentish Town Road, said the closure had "definitely affected business".
John said: "Since the underground closed my business is coming down slowly, not many people are coming so I'm a bit worried."
Staff member Wan Ly had to find a different route to work from her home in Ealing Broadway and is looking forward to the station reopening.
Nearby at Amnesty Bookshop volunteer Rachel Schwartz said the closure had impacted sales and footfall, adding: "We'll be very grateful if it comes back. What's hard is the uncertainty and being unable to plan."
Manager Nicci Praca said "things are getting worse" with the planned bridge reinforcement opposite.
"You can see they want to do it all at the same time because it makes sense, but business-wise it's very bad," she added.
However some businesses have benefitted. Award-winning Caliendo's Gelato further down the high street, says it has had new customers who walk past to catch the Tube at Camden Town.
Co-owner Michelina Caliendo-Sear said: "To be honest, up this end it's spreading the footfall because of people going to work so they are walking past us commuting rather than all staying up there.
"We had the busiest summer last year due to our award. I really feel for the rest of the high street."
TfL spokesperson said the work to upgrade the escalators was "progressing well" but it still needs to undertake deep cleaning, painting, installing new floor and wall tiling, and new signage.
But they said that during unrelated work to improve other parts of the station they identified essential repairs necessary to allow the station to operate safely.
They added: "Our engineers are doing everything possible to reopen the station, which is projected to happen in September, while ensuring that the high standards of safety our colleagues and customers expect on the Tube are met.”
TfL said it will not compensate businesses.
Camden Council has been contacted.
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