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| Emma hits out at ‘life-sucking’
developers |
OSCAR-winning actress Emma Thompson has let fly at big businesses
she accuses of “sucking the life out of West Hampstead”.
Ms Thompson, who is currently co-writing a romantic comedy with
Islington-based novelist Nick Hornby, recalled memories of a leafy
Finchley Road that she says had been ruined by over-development.
Speaking at the opening of a back clinic in Primrose Hill run by
Garry Trainer, an osteopath who befriended Ms Thompson after treating
her back problems 15 years ago, Ms Thompson said: “Finchley
Road now is this sort of really depressing strip. I’m so old
now I remember going to Cullens when there was someone who would
get on a ladder and get your groceries from the shelves for you.
I remember being quite excited by the fact you could get fresh products.
But large supermarkets like Sainsbury’s have sucked the life
out of communities on the streets.
“It’s now depressed – there are no general greengrocers,
no fresh fish shops, it’s just full of estate agents.”
And she said she was ready to speak out against other planning issues
that affect the quality of life for her neighbours.
Last year she threw her weight behind the campaign to prevent a
mobile phone company from putting an aerial above legendary record
producer George Martin’s studios in Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead,
and she also urged Thames Water to withdraw plans to build homes
on the site of the reservoir in Gondar Gardens, West Hampstead
She said: “Don’t do it. Everywhere in London is built
up.”
Pictured: Emma Thompson, centre, with Dr Hilary Jones, left and
Garry Trainer |
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