By Saadi Awan
Sutton High Street isn’t in crisis. Not officially. There are no signs up. No boarded windows or handwritten notes thanking customers “for the memories.” But if you linger long enough, speak to the shopkeepers, walk the length of it on a weekday afternoon, you’ll feel it. Things are quieter. Tenser. Everyone’s doing maths.
Qasim Ahmed, known to many locals simply as “Uncle,” runs A to Z Fresh, a small, no-frills grocery shop that has served the area for over 15 years. Inside, he moves instinctively, refilling a shelf of tinned chickpeas while talking about margins and onions.
“My supplier prices have gone up across the board,” he says. “A sack of onions that used to be four quid is now seven. But customers are buying less, coming in less. People are watching every penny.”
He shrugs. Not angry. Just resigned.
The shop has cut back on imported goods. Some items were dropped altogether. There are more own-brand products now, and the hours have been trimmed. Even then, prices have nudged upwards.
“I don’t want to charge more,” he says. “But if I don’t, we don’t survive. And I’m not ready to shut these doors. Not yet.”
National data backs this up. A KPMG UK report from April 2024 found that over half of UK consumers had reduced non-essential spending since January. In London, the figure was even higher. People were cutting out takeaways, snacks, branded groceries. Everything that used to feel like a little treat.
That rings true for Ayaz Awan, a father of two who still does his shopping on the High Street, though not quite like before.
“Back in the day a two liter bottle of milk was 50, 55p. Now it’s £1.65p. So it’s getting worse day by day.”
He likes the High Street. The routine. The recognisable faces. But he’s clear about the numbers.
“The meat is quite expensive. It’s £14 per kilo over here, so I have to travel one or two time a week to Norbury or Mitcham or the Tooting High Street where it’s £11 per kilo, for the same thing, same meat.”
The situation isn’t unique to Sutton. According to BDO UK’s April 2025 Retail Sales Tracker, online sales rose by 5.6 percent. In-store sales rose too, but only by 2.3 percent, which is below inflation. High streets are struggling to keep up. The shops that were once part of people’s weekly rhythm are becoming background noise.
In a Your Local Guardian article published in May 2024, other Sutton traders described being priced out by rising rents and falling footfall. Some pointed to a rise in petty crime. Others to a sense that the community was quietly fading, one empty unit at a time.
Still, Uncle doesn’t look ready to leave just yet.
“We’re not giving up,” he says. “But it’s getting harder. I just don’t want this place to become another ghost street.”
And with that, he goes back to stacking tomatoes. No fuss. No drama. Just another day in a shop that’s trying to hold the line.
References
Shop prices return to inflation as retailers struggle to shoulder Govt costs
https://brc.org.uk/news-and-events/news/corporate-affairs/2025/ungated/shop-prices-return-to-inflation-as-retailers-struggle-to-shoulder-govt-costs/
High meat and tea costs drive up food prices
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c627gpekvw3o.amp
KPMG UK – Half of UK Consumers Cut Non-Essential Spending in Early 2024
https://kpmg.com/uk/en/media/press-releases/2024/04/half-of-uk-consumers-say-they-have-cut-non-essential-spend-so-far-in-2024.html
BDO UK – High Street Sales Continue to Struggle in April 2025
https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb/news/2025/high-street-sales-continue-to-struggle-in-disappointing-april
Your Local Guardian – Sutton’s Shops Face Difficult Future Due to High Rents and Crime (May 2024)
https://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/24105154.suttons-shops-face-difficult-future-due-high-rents-crime/