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Zwemmer's two flagship art and photography book shops at 72 and 80 Charing Cross Road were this week repossessed by their landlord, the Soho Housing Association (SHA), Richard Lewis writes.
Notices pinned to the windows of the two art, design and media specialist shops said the landlord had repossessed the properties, after nine-year leases terminated on 25th December 2002.
Russell Purvis, SHA head of operations, said the two parties had been in negotiation for some months over rent. "We have been unable to progress a negotiation for a mutually satisfactory contract. As a registered charity in the social housing sector we need to ensure that income is forthcoming and, yes, that can include repossession."
Zwemmer director Ed Horne said the bookseller had been forced to examine its cost structure in the light of new rent demands, to see if it could accommodate the increase. It claimed it had been slow in its calulations, but the shops would reopen.
"They are just trying to chivvy us along. We thought we would have to close one shop in order to carry on, but we won't." He said the lease was now being passed to the company's lawyers. "We hope to have the shops open within a few days."
Zwemmer, founded in 1922, was bought in 1995 by Klesch&Co, an investment company specialising in troubled companies. In December the chain's poster shop on Litchfield Street, London, closed.
Ian Shipley, owner of Shipley's art specialist bookshop on Charing Cross Road, said he would be forced to close if Zwemmer could not stay. "There used to be bookshops all the way from the National Gallery to the British Museum. If this lot go, what's the point in me staying? There's no critical mass."