Monica’s closed in 2018 after the owner of more than 40 years shut up shop citing rent and running costs.
Fashion designer Monica Mayer had opened the store in South End Road in the late 1970s selling her own children’s clothes and adult wear.
Plans for a Pret A Manger to move into the empty shop in 2019 were abandoned after asbestos was discovered in the building.
At one point squatters broke in and had to be evicted, and owners Arch Company told the Ham&High in 2023 that while the shop occupied an “excellent location” opposite Hampstead station, structural issues were complicated and costly to fix because it was located directly above the railway line.
In December Arch Company lodged plans to demolish the 1970s pre-fab building and put up a new shopfront and retail store.
Documents lodged with the application describe the shop as extremely dilapidated and needing props to shore up the roof.
“The site is a vacant ground floor retail unit in a single storey building, which is of very poor quality and condition, with large quantities of asbestos and structural defects identified.
“The existing property is negatively impacting the local economy, community and conservation area.”
They added that replacing the shop would improve the streetscape and enhance the Hampstead conservation area: “The demolition of the existing structures and replacement modular solution proposed will bring a derelict unit that is no longer fit-for-purpose back into viable economic use.”
They warned that the site located on a bridge directly above the Mildmay railway line posed “significant construction constraints and challenges in terms of management and logistics” but said they already had been approved in principle by Network Rail.
One neighbour has objected to the plans saying they don’t address the risk to nearby properties from construction traffic and parking.
But another wrote: “Finally! It’s been a long time coming but we wholeheartedly support the renewal of this neglected shop.”
Steve Bobasch of Keats Community Library around the corner from the derelict shop wrote: “We support the effort to bring this space back into use and remove the eyesore it is today.”
But he put in a plea to reinstate the noticeboard on the wall next to the shop.
“As a community charity we rely on the noticeboard that is on the wall now. The noticeboard has been in use on this space for over 20 years and is very important to us in communicating with the public about a range of issues. Because our library is not on a busy street, this location is key for us to reach people.
“We ask therefore that a condition of planning should be for the developer to arrange for a notice board either on the site or close by.”
