A sports shop serving celebrities such as David Beckham could be forced to shut up shop by Transport for London.
Euro Sports in Swiss Cottage, north London has sold football, cricket and golf gear to the likes of the Gallagher brothers and Sir Paul McCartney for nearly five decades.
However custom has come to a screeching halt – the owner claims – after the parking spaces outside the store were removed by Transport for London (TfL) last year.
Dip Patel, 67, the owner of one of London’s oldest independent sports shop, says sales have plummeted since one-hour parking spaces outside the store on Finchley Road were removed last October.
The father-of-two has been working in the shop since he was 19 but now he says TfL has not responded to his complaints.
‘We used to have proper parking bays, but the road became a red route back when Ken Livingstone became Mayor,’ Mr Patel said.
‘People could still park for an hour, do their shopping and go. Ours is an old business. We’ve been here for nearly 50 years.
‘People drop off their rackets and pick them up later. But since [last] October, the one-hour slots have been removed.
‘Finchley Road is six lanes wide. In the morning, I can understand keeping it as a bus lane. But now it’s a bus lane both sides and customers can’t stop.
‘At 10am the bus lanes stop being used – there’s nobody there, so why can’t it be used by shoppers?
‘I don’t know what the thinking behind it is. I don’t know who makes these decisions but they are unaccountable.
He added: ‘They are paid to do a job and whether it affects businesses, nobody cares.’
Mr Patel added that parking spots to back of shop are residential only, meaning shoppers have nowhere nearby to leave their vehicles.
A Waitrose store on the road boasts its own car park, but Mr Patel says several stores on the road have shut over the years due in part to a lack of parking.
The business owner adds that despite directing frequent complaints to TfL about the removal of the parking spots but he has so far had no response.
‘It has ruined our business to a certain extent, because nobody can drive here,’ Mr Patel continued.
‘We’ve lost business because of this and it’s becoming an increasing problem. We’ve seen a drop in turnover.
‘People can’t stop here. We have written to TfL and had absolutely no response. Now what you get here is restaurants. Retailers have been in steady decline.
‘It’s not good news for Finchley Road, which was always a buoyant street but these restrictions have really taken their toll on business.
‘As long as people are willing to work I want to keep going, but now I am thinking: do we have to shut down because of this?
‘Something has to change. I don’t know what to do.’
Mr Patel’s family moved to the UK from Uganda in the early 1970s, when then-Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered all Indians to leave the country within 90 days.
After spotting an advertisement in a local paper, his father got a loan from a friend and rebranded what was then called Lucas Sports as Euro Sports in 1976.
Mr Patel’s sister Shilpa, 62, began working at the store on Saturdays and their brother Chan, 71, later joined the business in the early 80s.
The siblings have since made a name for themselves in the capital, providing sports equipment to sports stars including England players David Beckham, Peter Crouch, and West Ham goalkeeper Alfonse Areola as well as members of the Indian national cricket team.
‘The Gallagher brothers used to come in and buy football stuff,’ Mr Patel said.
‘John Barnes’ dad used to bring him in when he was a kid, Damien Lewis comes in to buy cricket stuff.
‘I don’t think there’s an older sports shop in London still run by its [original] owners. There aren’t many other businesses on the road that have remained.
‘We have a loyal customer base but it’s becoming more and more difficult. There are people who come from far afield, but a lot of them drive.’
Mr Patel added that when he needed to get some stuff from the shop for his cricket team, he was unable to park his own car outside the shop, as only commercial and emergency vehicles can now stop on the road.
He insists that all he wants is for a representative of TfL to sit down and discuss the issue with him.
‘All we want if for somebody from TfL to come down and spend a few hours looking at the street and ask, ‘Does it really warrant taking away all of the parking?’.
‘Even one or two spots for 30 minutes would work.’
MailOnline has approached TfL for comment.
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