Local London Assembly Member John Biggs has called on the Mayor of London to help breathe new life into Brick Lane businesses that are struggling. Brick Lane, famed for its numerous curry houses, has recently suffered a 40 per cent drop in trade. This has been put down to the coalition government raising VAT to 20 per cent and the impact of the Olympic Games. But there was clearly also a failure to keep promises to capitalise on the Olympics.
Following the Olympic Organiser’s decision not to route the Olympic Marathon through Tower Hamlets, a deal was struck with the Mayor of Tower Hamlets. Under this deal the Games’ Organisers promised to promote Brick Lane as “London’s Curry Capital”. With traders saying this is the worst situation Brick Lane has ever seen, this does not seem to have happened.
Local Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs, said: “There has been a clear failure of leadership and no promotion of Brick Lane as London’s ‘Curry Capital’ as promised by Tower Hamlets Council and the Olympics organisers.
“Their promises clearly amounted to nothing and questions need to be answered why the Mayor of Tower Hamlets presented this as a success when it was nothing of the sort. It’s also disappointing that the Mayor of London and the Games’ organisers were allowed to get away with such a meagre and meaningless 'deal'. Traders in Brick Lane and residents of Tower Hamlets have been sold short and deserve better.
“How did the two Mayors allow this deal to fail so spectacularly? I will be asking what steps he took to promote the area and what assurances they can give local people that the promises to promote our local economy will be taken seriously. This looks like a failure of leadership locally and a refusal to keep promises by the Olympics organisers, who were accountable to Boris Johnson.“
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