Hanover Square Cabmen’s Shelter awaiting reopening after completion of Crossrail works

It was become apparent to me that a large number of small business owners are missing out on government funding and support in Central London either the £10,000 or £25,000 grants offered to firms via local authorities in March due to their landlords essentially not passing on the grants to them. 

Take for example, the Cabmen’s Shelters in Central London. Its clear the operators of the green shelters for cabbies, have not had these sums passed on to them from the Trustees of the 13 shelters in Central London even though monies have been received from the relevant local authorities. In such pressingly hard times for the operators these grants need to be passed on as soon as possible, particularly when coming out of the lockdown. 

There are of course many many other instances particularly in the catering industry, where the restaurant’s rent is inclusive of business rates and paid through the landlord. A case in point is Normah’s Malaysian restaurant in Bayswater.  They were left so confused with the grant system and implored the government to find a way to support the small businesses which are falling through the gap. While the businesses themselves suggest ” Don’t think about the profits. Just think about how to survive” 

Which all goes to show that l feel, landlords have a responsibility to pass on their grants to the small operators actually running the spaces their provide. This needs addressing urgently if we are not to see many small businesses that we depend on and take for granted disappearing for good, as a poor legacy of COVID19 crisis. 

Rules of the Cabmen’s shelters – pity we don’t have some rules about who gets any grant monies!