By Ellie-Louise Style

The Bald Face Stag has shut down in Burnt Oak to become another fruit and veg shop. This was the last pub in the area and the locals are not too happy about the new announcement.

In total there are roughly thirty fruit and veg shops in the high street alone. It was just last summer that the area was classed as one of the worst retail places in the entire country.

The residents of Burnt Oak are now at the end of their tether and have started an online petition for the council to notice that there needs to be more of a variety of shops.

Christine King who started the petition on Change.org said: ” I just feel like there’s too many of the one shop, there’s no chain shops in the area, so because there’s no chain shops like New Look and Primark, it means that retailers won’t want to come into the area.

“This is also because of the state of the area. We also have no banks in the area, we only have one bank to serve like 17,000 people. People in the area are fed up with the lack of shops and how its really turned into a slum. Barnet council have completely ignored what residents want.

You wouldn’t want to come out here after 8pm you would see guys drinking on the street and they would be leering at you. You wouldn’t want your daughter to be going out late at night. It’s not a nice environment. It feels like Barnet council are brushing a lot under the carpet.”

In 2014 Barnet council promised Burnt Oak £600,000, but this is something the community are yet to see.

Barnet council have refused to comment on the neglection of the high street. Burnt Oak was once a very strong community, but it’s known that there are tensions between the locals and the council which are yet to be resolved.