Market traders at Ridley Road Shopping Village are set to be evicted on Friday due to concerns over anti-social behaviour.

The shopping village was earmarked to close at the end of December but the market operators issued letters to traders earlier this month giving them just two weeks notice to leave the premises.

The move comes after Dalston police issued a Community Protection Notice to the market owners requiring them to take action to combat anti-social behaviour around the shopping village, such as installing CCTV and hiring a supervisor.

In documents seen by City News, the market operators stated “the police have served us with a notice” and that they had “no alternative but to close the Ridley Road Shopping Village”.

However, Hackney Council has criticised the action of the market bosses.

Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville issued a statement in which he said he was “appalled” at the actions of the market owners and that they had used the police notice as “an excuse to close the market early…rather than work with tenants and police to drive down anti social behaviour.”

Christine Notley and her husband have owned a jewellers in the shopping village for over 20 years. She told us that closure had forced them into “early retirement”. She was sceptical that “anti-social behaviour” was sufficient enough to warrant closure. “There’s criminality all round London. It’s not just this indoor market.”

“I feel sorry for the other traders in here who are younger than us who have young families to provide for…they are going to be out of work for Christmas”, she said.

The owners of the Shopping Village, Rainbow Properties, are planning to convert the site into office space and luxury flats but they are still yet to receive planning permission.

London news