Purley & Woodcote has some amazing small businesses, including some relatively new ones. As a local councillor, I am determined to see our high street area thrive and encourage more footfall – with a broad range of shops, cafés and other amenities on offer.
The Purley BID do wonderful work in encouraging this and I have enjoyed working with them in the last few months.
To celebrate ‘Small Business Saturday’, I was delighted to visit some new shops and cafés for the first time and re-connect with others I am a regular customer at.
My first stop was to Garden Scents, a flower and plant shop located in the Downlands Precinct where I met Billy. We discussed rising costs and community safety and I was pleased to buy a little plant and some cards.
art-K next door run by branch manager, Jess runs adult and children art classes and is supported by Arts Council England. Again, we discussed community safety given recent issues on the Downlands Precinct which I have reported to both the Council and Safer Neighbourhood Team.
I then did a quick pop in to Shop Asia, which I visit regularly for Indian snacks. They never fail to disappoint!
Next up was the Purley Bon Bon newsagents, which is well-established. Earlier in the summer, I raised cleaning issues outside the shop and checked in with owner, Ketan to see how things were going. He has asked me to follow-up with the Council to ensure more regular cleaning and also request an extra bin on the High Street which I will push for.
Sabores da Terra is a delightful Portuguese shop/café and deli located on the High Street. I hadn’t been in for a few months and they have revamped the place. I managed to get in a few words of Portuguese – had a delicious pork sandwich and cake. I’ll be back again soon!
Yokattara is a sushi place on the Brighton Road. Angelica, the manager and I discussed how we encourage more footfall downtown. I was too full from Sabores da Terra but I couldn’t resist a lychee and mango bubble tea which was great, and I’ll be back for Sushi in the not so distant future!
I then nipped over to Woodcote to one of the jewels in the ward’s crown, Lord Roberts on the Green. Ghazala recently took ownership of this popular café but has maintained its unique character and warm vibe. A comforting cup of tea was had and Ghazala and I spoke about a number of local issues.
We are so lucky to have so much on offer in Purley & Woodcote, and it was lovely to thank small businesses, buy their products and take up issues they wanted to raise with me. I encourage residents to make the most of them in the run-up to Christmas.
