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Five local businesses in a Twickenham road will have their shop fronts upgraded through Richmond Council in the next stage of the authority’s work to improve high streets. Street lamps in London Road will also be replaced.

The shops, opposite the police station, were selected after applying for help from the Council, through the Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund (OLF). In total £56,000 will be spent to carry out repairs, improve signage and frontages.

The five are: JKS News, Perfection Hairdressers, The Munch Box, Max Sports and Blue Gnome Communications. New signs are due to be installed and some of the original architectural detailing on the buildings which has faded over time will be restored.

As well as improving shop fronts, the Council will also spend more than £170,000 from the Outer London Fund replacing street lamps in the road with newly designed poles. The work is due to start within a fortnight and will be finished before the end of March.

Cllr Pamela Fleming, Richmond Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Business and Culture, said: “London Road has many excellent small shops, it’s already a good environment to do business but we want to make it even better, to help traders. The more we can do to increase footfall in the run up to spring and summer the better.

“By improving a distinct section of the street, our expectation is that the whole road will be seen as a more attractive place to shop for local people – the shops chosen were all selected carefully so that their improvement would have maximum impact. Others nearby may even be encouraged to brighten up their own facades once they see the benefits having a facelift has brought to these five businesses.

“We’re building a real head of steam for bettering our local high streets; times are still difficult for independent traders, but I hope they can see we are doing what we can to help, not just in London Road, but in streets all over the borough.”

Mr Kanu Shah, owner of JKS News in London Road, one of the shops to benefit, said: “It is a brilliant idea, that the small shops, get this support from the Council. it is good to bring attention to what we sell, it is a really good idea. I think it has been 100 per cent worth joining the scheme, our shop will look really good once the work’s done. We have just refurbished the inside of the shop so the outside will look good as well now.”

The work in Twickenham follows announcements of shop front improvements in Whitton High Street and new paving and road surfacing in Church Road, Barnes., Other plans to create a town square in Hampton North, work to re-lay pavements in Kew Road and around the train station in Richmond and the removal of double yellow lines in St Margarets which are not Outer London Fund schemes have also been announced by the Council.

Thanks to the Outer London Funding from the Mayor, Boris Johnson, a number of other projects in Twickenham, will benefit. The Council has also received funding to:

• Assist with the costs of the Twickenham Area Action Plan.
• Support feasibility studies into launching a Business Improvement District for Twickenham and for ways to cut congestion in the town centre.
• Pay for new signage to show motorists the way to car parks.
• Fund two cultural events.

Already, OLF money has been used to pay for Christmas lights and decoration in the main streets and in the near future further smaller grants will be given to businesses in Twickenham to carry out minor repair works to their own shop fronts.