The closure of Coughlans Bakery after 89 years is a deeply sad moment for Croydon and for the many communities it has served across South London, Surrey, Kent and West Sussex.
This was not a failing business without history, loyalty or local support. It was a long-established, much-loved family firm employing 170 people and operating around 30 sites. Its closure shows just how severe the pressure on high street businesses has become.
The owners have pointed to rising energy and supplier costs, higher business rates, new National Insurance charges and wage pressures. They estimate these changes have added around £20,000 a week to their costs.
I have written to the Prime Minister urging the Government to change course.
Local businesses need meaningful business rates reform, relief from the impact of Employers’ National Insurance increases, a serious package of support for hospitality and retail, and business rates devolution to councils so local authorities can respond properly to local economic conditions.
In Croydon, we are backing businesses through Croydon Means Business, one hour’s free parking in district centres, blitz cleans, empty unit activation, shopfront improvement grants, targeted business rates relief and a new business concierge service.
But councils cannot offset the full impact of national tax decisions.
Every closure means lost jobs, less footfall, weaker local supply chains and another blow to the confidence of our town and district centres. Coughlans should be treated as a warning. The Government must act before more high street businesses are pushed beyond breaking point.
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Dear Prime Minister,
I am writing following the devastating announcement this week that Coughlans Bakery, one of Croydon’s most loved and longest-standing local businesses, has closed its doors after 89 years.
This is not just the loss of another shopfront. Coughlans is part of Croydon’s story. Open since 1937, generations of residents have grown up with it. Families, commuters, schoolchildren, workers and local communities have all known and valued it.
Nor is this the closure of a single small premises. Coughlans operated around 30 sites across Kent, Surrey, West Sussex and South London, supporting jobs, livelihoods, suppliers and families. The human impact of this closure will be significant. The 170 staff who have worked hard to serve local communities now face real uncertainty because the cost of doing business has been pushed beyond what even a long-established and well-loved brand can bear.
The owners have been very clear about what has driven this decision. Rising energy and supplier costs, higher business rates, new National Insurance charges and wage pressures have added an impossible burden to an already difficult trading environment. They say these changes have cost them an extra £20,000 a week. No responsible government should be able to read that and simply move on.
This is personal to me. My own family business has also faced a dramatic rise in the same costs the Coughlans family cite. I know, from direct experience, how damaging these pressures are for people who work hard, employ local people, serve their communities and take enormous personal risks to keep their businesses going.
Only recently, I hosted a meeting with representatives from Croydon’s hospitality sector, supported by UKHospitality. The message from local businesses was united and unmistakable: your Government is suffocating them. They are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for a fighting chance.
Coughlans is not the first business to close under this unnecessary pressure, and unless the Government urgently changes course, it will not be the last. Across Croydon, and across the country, high street businesses are being hit by a toxic combination of higher employment costs, rising bills, punitive business rates and weak consumer confidence. These are businesses that survived Covid, energy price shocks and years of uncertainty, only to be pushed over the edge by recent decisions made in Westminster.
Every closure means more than an empty unit. It means lost jobs, lost training opportunities, lost local supply chains, less footfall for neighbouring businesses and another blow to the confidence of our high streets. Once these businesses are gone, they are not easily replaced.
Croydon Council is doing everything it can to stand up for local traders, support our district centres and drive new investment into the borough. Through Croydon Means Business, we are delivering a borough-wide package of support to help businesses start, grow and thrive, increase occupancy, create new jobs for residents and build a more vibrant and resilient commercial environment. That includes protecting one hour’s free parking in our district centres, pioneering blitz cleans to improve local high streets, providing empty unit activation grants to bring vacant premises back into use, offering shopfront improvement grants to support independent businesses, delivering targeted business rates relief to encourage new occupiers, and introducing a dedicated business concierge service to help firms access support and navigate the Council. Yet local government cannot undo the damage being caused by national tax policy. We can clean up our high streets, back our traders, improve empty units and bring forward new investment, but we cannot regenerate our town and district centres while the Government is making it harder for businesses to survive on them.
I am therefore calling on you to take immediate action to support businesses like Coughlans and the thousands of independent, family-run and high street firms now facing the same impossible choices. In particular, I urge the Government to:
Urgently progress meaningful business rates reform, so that high street businesses are not punished simply for maintaining a physical presence in our town and district centres.
Reverse the damage caused by your Employers’ National Insurance increases, and lower the burden on small, independent hospitality, leisure and retail businesses that are already operating on extremely tight margins.
Back the hospitality sector’s campaign to cut hospitality VAT to 10%, bringing the UK more into line with many European countries. This call is supported by major hospitality groups, including UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association, the British Institute of Innkeeping and CODE Hospitality.
Progress proposals to devolve business rates powers to local authorities, not just Regional Mayors, so councils can better support local businesses, respond to local economic conditions, and help protect the future of their own high streets.
Croydon’s local traders are the backbone of our communities. They provide jobs, bring life to our high streets, support local families and give our town and district centres their character. They deserve a Government that backs them, not one that taxes them out of existence.
The closure of Coughlans should be a wake-up call. I urge you to listen to businesses, change course, and act before more much-loved local employers are forced to shut their doors.
I would be pleased to meet with you, your successor or any relevant Minister to discuss a way forward for Croydon, London, and High Street businesses across our country.
Yours sincerely,
Jason Perry
Executive Mayor of Croydon
