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Traders fear the closure of one of the main entrances to Finsbury Park station will hit business so hard they will “lose everything”.

Commuters will face years of travel chaos when the Wells Terrace entrance shuts from Monday as part of a major upgrade of the station.

The overhaul is being carried out in conjunction with the £220m City North development. It will include two new lift shafts giving step-free access to platforms and a larger entrance, to be opened in 2019.


But traders in Clifton Terrace, a street used by commuters cutting through from Stroud Green Road, say the closure will dramatically affect trade.

“I’ll be honest with you, we will think about closing the shop,” said Riza Berktas, manager of Metro Supermarket.

“We can’t cover the rent, rates and bills. We could lose everything.”

Mr Berktas said there had not been any communication from the council or Transport for London about the closure of Wells Terrace, adding: “No one talks to us – they say they don’t know what will happen.”



Over the road the manager of Gatz Cafe, Hussein Jabar, said the closure was going to be “a big problem” for the street. Mr Jabar, a fan of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who has a vegetarian “Jeremy special” on the menu in honour of his local MP, said: “We will suffer. The grocery stores will close completely I think. Everyone will come out the other side and go straight home. You won’t walk all the way around the station to come here.”

Clifton Terrace has seen a number of new restaurants spring up over the past year after the opening of Park Theatre in 2013 began to attract more visitors to the street.

The Town Hall has said there is support available for the businesses affected, including business rates relief. It would be launching a “major marketing” campaign to spread the word that Finsbury Park is open for business.

Assistant chief executive Lela Kogbara said: “We understand some traders are concerned about how the Wells Terrace closure could affect their business, and we’re sorry if some of them haven’t received communications about this.

“We’ve written to traders to ensure they know about the available support such as business rates relief.”

Commuters who use the station between 7.30am and 9.30am will have to use the Station Place entrance and will only be able to exit through Seven Sisters Road.

At other times those who usually use Wells Terrace will have to walk around the station to either Seven Sisters Road or Station Place entrances.

TfL said that keeping the entrance open during construction or building a new temporary entrance was “not feasible” due to the complexity of the work.

London Underground director of strategy and service development David Hughes said: “Fins­bury Park is one of the busiest stations in north London, with over 27 million people using it every year.

“Demand will increase as the population of London gets larger. The im­provements will allow the station to deal with this demand.”