Defending Kilburn High Road: Billionaire-Backed Media Slurs Won’t Hide the Real Pressures Destroying Our High Streets

 

Fresh Poms, 227 Kilburn High Road

       

Guest post from the five newly elected Green Party councillors for Kilburn Ward: Cllr Ash Atkinson, Cllr Andr Lopez Turner, Cllr Suzanne Gallagher, Cllr Paul Ryan, and Cllr Stephen Malonga

 

GB News presenter Patrick Christys recently targeted an independent pomegranate juice shop on Kilburn High Road. In a video clip circulated online, Christys used dog-whistle rhetoric to baselessly imply that this small business was "dodgy" or operating as an illicit front.

This is a complete fabrication. We have been on the ground, met the operators, and tasted the juice (which is excellent, rich in vitamins, and highly anti-inflammatory!). They are pleasant, hard-working people who have invested heavily in a beautiful storefront. They deserve our community's support, not xenophobic tropes masquerading as current affairs journalism.

We have written a formal letter of complaint (please see below) directly to Ofcom and the editorial board of GB News. While it remains unclear whether this segment was broadcast on traditional linear TV or exclusively via podcasts and YouTube shorts, we wish to call out this behaviour. Although this may fall outside Ofcom’s linear broadcasting code, we have placed this on record to highlight the severe, real-world economic harm that irresponsible media commentary inflicts on independent traders.

The Real Threat: Corporate Greed, Not Independent Shops

The right-wing media wants to manufacture a culture war out of thin air because they want to blind people to the structural economic pressures destroying our high streets. If these journalists actually cared about Kilburn, they would look at the real damage being done by landlord greed and corporate extraction.

Across Kilburn, we are losing much-loved, family-run independent food businesses. These heartbreaking closures are not caused by right-wing conspiracy theories; they are caused by the brutal, unchecked realities of the modern economy:

Commercial Rent Squeezes: Landlords are placing an impossible burden on small traders by demanding aggressive, two-yearly rent reviews. These frequent and steep hikes offer local businesses zero long-term security, forcing viable shops to the brink or driving them out of our community entirely when the financial damage becomes too much to bear.

Silicon Valley Wealth Extraction: Independent food businesses are being squeezed to breaking point by tech intermediaries like Uber Eats, which extracts an extortionate 35% commission on local deliveries. This model bleeds wealth directly out of Kilburn and sends it straight to California. Local business owners have told us they often feel like they are working primarily to line the pockets of Uber Eats, rather than building their own livelihoods.

Hyper-Inflation: Skyrocketing utility bills, particularly punitive commercial electricity rates, have made running independent commercial kitchens completely unsustainable for small operators.

While independent shops face these immense struggles, corporate entities, including predatory gambling shops owned by offshore billionaires with zero connection to our community, are thriving. They extract profit from our neighbourhoods while contributing nothing to our social fabric.

It is the peak of hypocrisy that these factless attacks on Kilburn’s diverse traders are broadcast by a network owned by a tax-exiled, Reform UK-donating billionaire living in Dubai. Wealthy media moguls have no right to dictate what is "viable" or "legitimate" on a working-class London high street.

Building a Fairer, Circular Economy

In the Green Party, we passionately support independent businesses. Unlike multi-national corporations, independent traders keep wealth circulating within our local economy. They buy from local suppliers, employ local people, and build genuine community wealth rather than extracting it to offshore tax havens.

We support collaborative initiatives like One Kilburn, where our community is working incredibly hard to bring residents, independent businesses, and local partners together to build a resilient, supportive, and sustainable high street economy.

We will not sit idly by while so-called journalists working for billionaire-backed media outlets attempt to trash the reputation of small traders to feed a divisive political agenda. We stand with our high street, we stand with our independent businesses, and we will keep fighting for an economy that puts people and planet ahead of corporate profit.

Great turnout at consultation event for new Welsh Harp SEND 16-25 provision and continuation of the primary school environmental study centre

There was a significantly larger turnout than might have been expected at the Consultation Meeting about the proposed SEND 16-25 Facility at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre (WHEEC) on Wednesday. Attendance was higher than many of the consultations held for multi-million regeneration projects, showing how important the Centre and the SEND provision is to local people.

People crowded into one of the WHEEC classrooms to see the 7 panels outlining the plans.  I was gratified to see the primary classrooms and separate toilet facilities for primary school pupils in the draft floor plan for the new building. The continuation of an environmental studies facility for primary school pupils was something that Brent Green Party members, Brent Friends of the Earth, Brent Parks Forum  and many individuals had campaigned for. It is so important for a new generation that will be faced with climate breakdown and  the biodiversity crisis. PETITION HERE

Conversation was animated and questions detailed over issues such as the horticultural features, potential loss of mature trees, parking, security and more.

Aside  from building design is the devising of a strategy for a sustainable future for the WHEEC and plans for community use and shared building management.

Brent Council has kindly provided a copy of the Display Boards below so that those unable to attend can study them and submit their views:

Depending on your broadband speed the boards may take a while to download:

 

Comments have to be in by June 17th 2026 FILL IN THE FORM HERE

Contact: jas.yembra@brent.gov.uk

 

Daniel's Den Dads Zone this Saturday 10-11.30am. All little ones welcome with their dads, grandads, uncles and male carers

 From Daniel's Den (celebrating an amazing 30 years in  Brent!)

 It’s our monthly Dads Zone this Saturday 10-11.30am. All little ones welcome with their dads, grandads, uncles and male carers. It’s also our bake sale as part of our fundraising month

 

New £188.8 million of funding to Quintain's Wembley Park under the Government’s Private Rented Sector Guarantee Scheme

 From Quintain Ltd

    

New loan to Quintain to support the stabilisation of two new Build to Rent developments in Wembley Park

United Kingdom, 1st June 2026 – Venn, a leading investment manager with a strong focus on European residential real estate, together with vertically integrated owner, operator and developer, Quintain, is pleased to announce the funding of a new loan totalling GBP188.8 million under the Private Rented Sector Guarantee Scheme (“PRSGS”, “the Scheme”), which Venn manages on behalf of the UK Government.

The loan was funded through a public tap of the Scheme’s existing 2030 floating rate bond series, which is guaranteed by the UK Government. The public process attracted strong institutional demand, achieving an attractive spread of 50 basis points over SONIA. Proceeds from the bond issuance are on-lent directly to the Quintain borrower, and this funding cost contributes to an all-in interest rate that provides the Build to Rent (“BTR”) sector with cost-effective capital at scale, aligned with borrower requirements in the current market.

This transaction is the second PRSGS transaction funded since March 2026 and demonstrates the Scheme’s continued ability to provide stable funding and transaction certainty under otherwise volatile market conditions. Under the Scheme, Venn has approximately GBP1.5 billion of further lending capacity to support the sector.

The £188.8 million loan has been provided to Quintain and will finance two neighbouring BTR assets, Luna and Solar, located within Wembley Park in North-West London. The assets, which comprise in total 665 homes, form part of Quintain’s 85-acre residential-led mixed-use estate and are operated under the award-winning Quintain Living platform.

Luna and Solar represent the two most recent additions to the Wembley Park residential offering. Their delivery marked 6,000 homes of all tenures completed by Quintain across the estate, over half of which are BTR and operated by Quintain Living. As with the existing Quintain Living portfolio, these assets deliver high-quality rental accommodation within a well-established, professionally managed neighbourhood. Both assets reached practical completion in 2025 and are currently in the process of stabilisation, benefitting from the expertise of Quintain Living’s mature operational platform and strength of the wider mixed-use estate.

The buildings have strong sustainability credentials, aligned with HQM 4 Star ratings and supported by an industry-leading embodied carbon assessment that outperformed LETI benchmarks. Alongside Luna and Solar is the delivery of Wembley Park’s second performing arts-based community centre and a new headquarters for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with both buildings achieving BREEAM Excellent.

For further information on the Scheme and how to apply, borrowers should contact PRS@Venn-Partners.com

The PRSGS Scheme extract (Full version  on Government website HERE)  

1.  Project Eligibility

1.1 The objective of the Private Rented Sector Guarantee Scheme is to provide loans that contribute to development of (or conversion to) purpose built homes for private rent in the United Kingdom.

1.2 On application, sponsors need to set out how the PRSGS loan will promote this objective.

1.3 Loans will fund projects that deliver new build or converted private rented homes

1.4 Minimum size of project: Total project to have a minimum value of £10m. However, the “project” can comprise more than one site, which cumulatively meet the minimum value requirement.

1.5 Units must be used for private rent for the period of the debt guarantee.

1.6 Applicants will need to detail how property and tenant management services will be provided.

1.7 Borrowers will need to be classified to the private sector, or a Private Registered Provider as defined in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 Section 80(3) (or equivalent in the Devolved Administrations).

1.8  Properties will need to be located in the United Kingdom.

 

IMAGES OF LUNA AND SOLAR (See Philip Grant's comment of June 5th below) Source Quintain's Build to Rent blog.

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 of a new round of strikes at Woodfield School as Trust attempt to use a soon to be unlawful 'fire & rehire' strategy against their workers

Today was Day 1 of a new round of strikes at Woodfield SEND School in Kingsbury, or Day 14 if you count all the strike days that have taken place since the Academy Trust that runs the school went on the offensive in trying to lower the wages and employment status of support staff at the school - staff who are absolutely vital in the care and education of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

After an ACAS intervention and an unsatisfactory meagre offer from management, the Trust went back on the offensive and are attempting to operate a 'fire and rehire' strategy in which staff are sacked and then re-employed on worse terms.

Brent West MP, Barry Gardiner, was one of the main campaigners against this discredited and damaging to labour relations strategy that will be outlawed by January next year.  Why the Academy Trust decided to try and use this against their own staff before the law change and a use almost unknown in the education sector. is somewhat of a mystery.  The NEU is not prepared to standby while a precedent is set.

Despite a drenching, the mood on the picket line remained buoyant and determined. Messages of solidarity were received from NEU branches from all over the country.  Labour Party and Green Party councillors were on the  picket line in support of the strikers and there were loud toots of solidarity from passing traffic.

A series of strike days are planned in an effort to persuade the Academy Trust back to the negotiating table.

 

 

The spirit of Grunwick lends itself to the strikers 

 

Then the rain came down!

 

 

Cllr Iman Ahmadi Moghaddam  & Cllr Amandine Alexandre (Green Party)

 

 

Cllr Jake Rubin (lead member for schools) and Cllr Gwen Grahl (Brent Council deputy leader) 

 

If you would like to support the strikers please write to the chair of the  academy trustees on this LINK.

Cllr Gwen Grahl, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, backs Woodfield School strikers on eve of first of a series of strikes. Urges the Academy Trust to re-enter negotiations with the NEU

 

Note: Woodfield School is part of an Academy Trust, directly funded by the Government and does not come under local education authority oversight.

Brent NEU announced:    

NEU members at Woodfield School, run by Compass Learning Partnership- a special school catering for children and young people with complex needs and autism- are striking again, in their continued fight to retain their pay, resulting in the school being closed. The Trust have refused to negotiate further saying they will instead resort to a tactic of FIRE AND REHIRE (soon to be made an illegal practice).

Staff at the school believe their pay should not be cut whilst high executive salaries have been maintained despite the appointment of a new CEO who is not from a teaching background. The NEU has whistle blown over financial irregularities at the Trust and maintains that low paid frontline classroom staff and their pupils should not be the victims.

Jenny Cooper, local branch secretary, has stated:

We have the support of several local politicians including Barry Gardiner MP and we believe parents would prefer that the Trust negotiate their way out of this dispute. No one wants to see this level of strike action.

Peter, Georgia and the Chancellorship of Oxford University

Back in May 2017 Richard Osley wrote in the Camden New Journal about Georgia Gould's election to the leadership of Camden Council and the congratulations of a leading New Labour figure:   

Lord Mandelson was among well-wishers sending messages to Georgia Gould as she was confirmed as the next leader of Camden Council on Tuesday night. Councillor Gould stood uncontested for the role at the annual general meeting of the ruling Labour group.

Her “coronation” followed Sarah Hayward’s shock decision to step down as leader last month. Insiders said the lack of challengers to Cllr Gould – daughter of the late Lord Gould, Tony Blair’s pollster, and publishing powerhouse Baroness Gail Rebuck – meant she has the strongest command on the local Labour group any leader has had in years.

Lord Mandelson, who lives near Regent’s Park, said in a message to the 30-year-old: “Well done, Georgia, so proud of you as your Dad would be. You’ll be tremendous for Camden – my borough – and for the party.” Family friends Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair’s former press chief, and Fiona Millar have also wished her well in recent weeks, predicting she will excel as leader.

Seven years later in August 2024 Lord Mandelson wrote to Ms Gould, now MP for Queens Park and Maida Vale and at the time parliamentary secretary to the Cabinet Office, to solicit her  assistance in his bid to become Chancellor of Oxford University. The inner workings of the New Labour 'old boys and girls' network is revealed in the Mandelson Papers published today LINK:

It didn't work out for Peter Mandelson as he was beaten by Tory William Hague, probably a good thing in retrospect because in September 2025 he was stripped of all honours awarded to him during his chancellorship of Manchester Metropolitan University (2016 to 2024). He moved on to campaign for the Oxford University at the end of his tenure in that post.

Manchester's action followed the revelations about Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. 

Georgia Gould on Good Morning Britain February 2026

 

In February of this year Richard Osley returned to the subject in the Camden New Journal reporting on Gould's TV round under the headline 'Former council leader ‘shocked’ at family friend Mandelson’s conduct.' 

While appearing on Sophy Ridge’s politics show on Sky on Sunday, Ms Gould was asked whether the public had lost faith in the system because friends, relatives and spouses were often connected in power circles.

“We are harder on random people than we are on friends and family,” Ms Ridge suggested, to which Ms Gould replied that the new intake of Labour MPs at the 2024 general election had been “people from all walks of life”.

She added: “I’m really clear on my values and my integrity. I would uphold that regardless of the individual – if I knew them or not.”

Capital Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium Saturday June 6th - road closures from 11am until after midnight