Mighty Boosh star Noel Fielding joins fight to save Swains Lane shopping parade in Highgate
Comedian Noel Fielding has joined the fight to save a parade of independent shops in Highgate threatened with demolition - and has declared replacing it with a four-storey block of flats would be a “cardinal sin”.
The Mighty Boosh star, who lives opposite the proposed development in Swains Lane, was speaking at a packed public meeting attended by more than 300 people at St Anne’s Church, in Highgate West Hill, last night (Wednesday, August 15).
The owner of the site, the Earl of Listowel, wants to knock down the one-storey parade and replace it with housing and a supermarket - rumoured to be a Waitrose.
Fielding told the Ham&High: “At the moment we have a Tesco and people can make a decision on whether they want to shop there or go to the independent shops.
“But this will give nobody a choice.
“Why do they want another supermarket 100 yards down the road?
“All this is going to go for flats. It doesn’t feel like it is enough to get rid of so much.”
Most Read
- 1 Five jailed after 'cold blooded' murder of Enfield father
- 2 Hampstead Town's first Labour councillor stands down weeks into office
- 3 Walking book club: Hampstead Heath, Death and The Penguin
- 4 Highgate pub landlords to appeal restrictive licence approval
- 5 Olympic ace opens Highgate primary school's new running track
- 6 5 of the best things to do with kids in north London
- 7 Man wanted after serious assault in Sussex 'may live in Camden'
- 8 Calls for removal of South End Green phone box
- 9 Monkeypox: 7 patients in Homerton and Royal Free hospitals
- 10 Campaign launched after girl suffers fractured ribs from e-scooter crash
Fielding moved to the Swains Lane neighbourhood two years ago after he fell in love with the area’s village feel.
“I feel very lucky to be able to live here,” he said. “It’s close to Hampstead Heath, Parliament Hill, and Camden if you want somewhere livelier.
“But this place feels very peaceful.
“It’s the only place I have never been hassled. Nobody is bothered that you are on TV.”
When asked if he would consider moving if the development got the go-ahead, he said: “Well I might not have moved here if I knew there was going to be a Waitrose over the road.
“I don’t know.
“It feels like you are on holiday. It’s a beautiful part of London.
“When I go into see Mickey [Shamlain] the greengrocer, we have a chat.
“When you go into Tesco you dont have a conversation.
“There is a feeling of hopelessness. That you can’t stop them. It feels like you don’t have the power.
“If someone else owns it, what do you do?
“No one is in favour. No one wants it.
“We have to know how to fight them.”
