This week, the Rotherhithe community lost a barber shop, Caribbean takeaway, hairdressers, a music studio and a car wash – all in one fell swoop.
Plush SE16 had served the atea and beyond for twenty-two years and they were sadly evicted on Tuesday (16 January) morning.
Anyone familiar with Plush knew it was more than just five businesses. After being evicted last year, Michael Clinkett decided to stay on the land in protest of his right to a relocation.
Exclusive: Twenty bailiffs evict Plush SE16 following 17-month battle for relocation
Due to a policy in the Southwark Plan, the council was required to relocate him for planning permission to be granted and it was not able to do that. The council is now arguing it was ‘under no jurisdiction’ to do so.
To look at it from one angle, the landowner is within her legal right to sell her land. Yet although Michael knew this day would come, it was an abrupt end nonetheless.
Following the publication of the article and video on social media, support has flooded in. If it wasn’t clear already, the businesses and the team now leave a huge hole in the area – one that no amount of housing will be able to fill.