Dr Z Wong outside the shop

OBJECTORS fear a Town Hall decision to allow a small shop to be bulldozed and replaced by apartments is part of a process that is destroying the character of Kentish Town.
Health and Herbs, a Chinese herbalist in Angler’s Lane, just off Kentish Town Road, opened only nine months ago, but has quickly become popular.
An application for a three-storey residential building on the site of the single-storey shop was thrown out by the council in September last year, but new proposals for a two-storey block were approved last month.
Residents’ and traders’ associations strenuously opposed the plans. Caroline Hill, of Kentish Town Action, said: “Camden seems to think the loss of such a small unit won’t make much of a difference, if any.
“But this is exactly the kind of business that is badly needed in Kentish Town.”
Jenny Dong and Dr Z Wong, who run Health and Herbs, are hoping the building’s freeholder will not invoke a clause in the leasehold agreement that would allow demolition and redevelopment of the site.
Ms Dong said: “We hope to stay here for several years at least, because we have just started to be accepted. Some of our customers are only part of the way through their treatments.”
Camden Council rejects complaints that the loss of retail space would damage the character of the area.
A council press official said: “It is considered that, given the small size of the shop unit (43 square metres) and the location of the site off the main high street, its loss would not cause harm to the retail function, character, vitality and viability of the district centre.”