The number of American candy and souvenir shops along Oxford Street has dropped from a peak of 29 to 21 following a crackdown by Westminster City Council.
A new report by the council’s overview and scrutiny committee indicate that its enforcement action is beginning to take effect.
“We have ramped up the pressure on Candy stores, souvenir and vape shops, to make clear the status quo is not acceptable,” it said.
“Following multiple attempts to engage with each freeholder and long leaseholder, requesting that they do all they can to stop letting agents leasing empty properties to candy stores or souvenir shops, we then carried out a transparency release of those who failed to engage positively with the council.
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“This exercise triggered a number of conversations with freeholders and long leaseholders on the specific actions that could help to remove candy stores in their particular contractual situations, and those conversations are ongoing, with some parties even inviting trading standards action to enable them to begin legal action against their tenants.”
Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug said: “We have energetically pursued unscrupulous traders who sell unsafe or fake goods, impounding more than £1m of items in 18 months.”
He added that the American candy shops “form part of a sophisticated operation which is skilled at exploiting UK legal loopholes”.
According to Hug, the stores have cost taxpayers at least £7.9m in unpaid business rates.
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