Lloyds Bank, 1 Walm Lane, NW2
Following closure both Lloyds Bank and Nat West branches in Willesden Green are on the development market. Barclays opposite the Lloyd's building is due to close shortly leaving the area without a bank.
The Lloyds building is the first to come to Brent Planning with a proposal to turn into a Bingo Hall from Luton based Star Commercial Property Limited. LINK.
Apart from changes in the internal layout and an additional window replacing the cashpoints there is little change.
Plans were lodged yesterday and the deadline for responses is November 25th 2024. LINK to website or email planning.comments@brent.gov.uk The Reference number is 24/2877
The application envisages 8 fulltime equivalent employees with the operating hours 8am to 12.30am Monday to Friday, 9am to 1am Saturday and 9am to 12.30am Sunday.
Just what Willesden Green needs, with all the ASB and drug dealing, usage there is around. It will only help fund those habits.
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly right on willesden green is now very unsafe lots of drug addicts, homeless, alcoholics. We don't need Bingo.
DeleteIt looks like it’s becoming a trend to turn ex banks into casinos and gambling sites in already troubled areas with a lot of addictions… sad news.
ReplyDeleteSo let me get this straight. First they close all the banks but one in Harlesden with reduced hours. Now they are closing the ones in Willesden too?! Not to mention another betting shop in the area. This is ridiculous….. causing more addicts and more poverty and in turn more crimes than we already have!
ReplyDeleteLooks like Ian Duncan Smith Conservative MP has been campaigning about gambling issues for a while - let's hope our Brent Labour MPs will also put pressure on their Labour government colleagues ...
ReplyDelete"Proportion of children in Great Britain with gambling problem has doubled, data reveals
Gambling Commission figures show shock rise to 85,000 in number of young people suffering gambling harms"
https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2024%2Fnov%2F07%2Fproportion-of-young-people-in-the-uk-with-gambling-problem-has-more-than-doubled-official-data-reveals&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4
"Gambling White Paper ‘desperately’ needed, says former Tory leader
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the vice-chair of a parliamentary body on gambling reform, said he believed the Government was listening."
https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.standard.co.uk%2Fbusiness%2Fbusiness-news%2Fgambling-white-paper-desperately-needed-says-former-tory-leader-b1070503.html&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4
"The former Tory leader calls for a levy on companies to pay for gambling addiction treatment - but says the government's whitepaper on the issue is "stuck" in Downing Street."
https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Fgambling-firms-who-get-away-with-literal-murder-must-be-stopped-says-iain-duncan-smith-12643239&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl1%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4
You are exactly right on willesden green is now very unsafe lots of drug addicts, homeless, alcoholics. We don't need Bingo.
ReplyDeletePlease, please, please not another gambling shop! I wholeheartedly agree with all of the objections outlined above.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely do not want a gambling or bingo hall in Willesden Green. The area is already run down and this will add to the areas demise, feeding gamblers addiction and pushing them further into poverty. No one wins apart from those greedy enough to benefit from the profits.
ReplyDeleteThis beautiful building needs to be used for something that will benefit the community and not cause a threat . In the prime position and in proximity to schools the proposed business is a safety risk . Consider the families and locals who have up till now respected the welfare of their community and how this would negatively affect them.
DeleteA Big no to Bingo
ReplyDeleteThe residents in this area are trying very hard to look after the environment to encourage young people to be discerning and responsible. This is the worst possible suggestion for this beautiful building .For at least safety of all and the proximity to schools please reject this proposal.
ReplyDeleteTake it to you Labour MP then - they initially relaxed the gambling regulations!
ReplyDeleteThe area is struggling at the moment. As well as homeless people seeking shelter in the station, we have the open buying and selling of drugs on the street and crack being smoked in the Photo Booth. For low-level gambling, the high street already offers two cashino establishments and a bookmakers. This is surely enough? All three banks sit in prime locations. If companies offering social mingling are interested, they should be companies with an ethos that is inclusive of all the local population, particularly children for whom there are no clubs, no safe spaces away from the bleak streets, and no opportunities for socialisation within our community.
ReplyDeleteBrent Council need to refuse this permission as a matter of priority
ReplyDeleteWe voters vote for you councillors to make our lives and areas better, not to pass permissions for gambling businesses that will make us all poorer but the owners even richer
They let gambling premises open everywhere causing so many issues - yet an important local asset like volunteer run East Lane Theatre Group, which enables local people to see excellent theatre productions at a reasonable cost, gets threatened by Brent Council with an increase in annual rent from £1,500 per year to a colossal £75,000 per year which they obviously cannot afford - how is that supporting the local community???
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not another gambling venue. Willesden Green has too many and it’s degrading.
ReplyDeleteDoes the community need another Bingo in the area? The answer is NO 😞
ReplyDeleteNo please!
ReplyDeleteTo add a bingo hall/casino to an area, which is already struggling with addictive residents, drug addicts, crime and anti-social behaviour, having a bingo hall in replace of a bank (which begs the question). Why shut down a much-needed resource, something as important for an area — a bank. Not every has access to online banking, either.
ReplyDeleteWillesden Green, is fast becoming as bad a Brixton used to be or Camden, with druggies hanging outside stations and harassing people. A bingo hall is definitely not the services that need to replace a bank. It is getting more and more difficult to find a bank in local areas, as mentioned not everyone has their banking on their phones. Seems like a cold and callous move to replace, banking with gambling....oh the irony!!!!!
The banks have closed because everyone is doing everything on line and not using cash.
ReplyDelete