D-day looms for villagers fighting to save bakery from becoming kebab shop

Abbots Langley villagers fighting to prevent a high street bakers from becoming a takeaway will find out the shop’s fate tomorrow evening. Three Rivers District Council will decide whether to put through the application to change the site of Topham’s Bakers to A5 use (hot food and takeaways) at a meeting of the planning committee. The application was put in by Mansbridge, who own the bakers, and locals had until November 7 to comment on the plans. A total of 105 people objected to the change of use and village butcher Simon East launched a campaign dubbed ‘No More Takeaways’ to rally support against it. He said: “If we’re not careful Abbots will become just like Apsley, which is a dump. Abbots Langley won’t be a village anymore for people to go shopping. “You can get kebabs in the chip shop on the High Street and down at School Mead and we already have plenty of Chinese and Indian restaurants.” The parish council has also spoken out against the plans, saying: “The property forms part of the primary shopping frontage of the village, within the conservation area, and should be retained as a bakers to cater for the local day to day needs of the community.  There are already a large number of food takeaway establishments within the immediate and surrounding area and there is no requirement for another, adding to the noise, smells, traffic, litter and parking issues.” Simmons Bakers have confirmed they were interested in the premises but were told a takeaway had already snapped up the shop. Rupert Matthews of Simmons Bakers said: “We would like to confirm that we have expressed interest in the site and we understand that a kebab shop is currently in negotiations with the landlord. “We feel it is a good site that, if run properly, would be an asset to the local community and high street. We remain interested should the situation change for any reason.”   Photo by HOSS Photography