Dodgy shops have no place on our high streets

In his latest column, Dan Tomlinson looks at an issue affects his role as both local MP and government minister

A row of shops on a high street — Barnet High Street in the mid-2000s – (Credit – Martin Addison via Wikimedia commons)

Our high streets are at their best when they’re full of businesses you can trust – places you feel safe visiting, run by people earning your custom honestly.

That’s why I’ve been raising concerns with the government as your MP and working on this issue as the minister responsible for HMRC.

We can all picture a local dodgy shop. You’ll have seen the signs. Shops selling products that seem illegal or off. Multiple identical businesses clustered together on the same street: four mini marts within metres of each other; three vape shops in a row; two of the same phone repair place. Or premises that seem to close and reopen under a new name every few months.

These aren’t coincidences – they’re red flags, and they need looking into.

Our local business owners in Chipping Barnet make me proud. They keep us connected, give our community identity, and invest in making this place somewhere people want to be.

My work to open the empty shops that blight our high street has led to many wins: a new, more accessible post office that is open for longer; helping new businesses with barriers to opening up; getting more bins and cracking down on flytipping with the council; and more.

Dodgy premises undermine legitimate businesses who want the best for our high street. They put off investors. They make our high streets feel less safe.

I won’t accept that.

So, I’m launching a reporting portal. If you’ve spotted a business that doesn’t feel right on one of our local high streets, you can now tell me about it directly.

I’m keen to hear about premises that you suspect are selling harmful, illegal, or counterfeit products, and shops that may be committing fraud, evading tax, or linked to organised crime.

Where there are grounds for further action, I will raise directly with the relevant authorities – the council, trading standards or the government. The more detail you can give on the issue, the better.

You can report a dodgy shop via dantomlinson.org.uk/dodgy-shops

Let’s clean up our high streets together.

Dan Tomlinson is Labour MP for Chipping Barnet and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

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