If betting shops are a fixture of Britain’s high streets, then the streets of Brent, in north-west London, differ from the norm only in their concentration.
Enough of the retail units of Brent’s Victorian and Edwardian-era high street buildings are occupied by betting shops and slot arcades that the borough ranks second in London by number of gambling premises – a fact which has motivated local politicians to wage a campaign against the ills of gambling and their perceived lack of power to control it.
Local politicians have been vocal in the press, council meetings and social media about the damage caused by the growth of betting shops and other gambling premises in their area, and they played a leading role in convincing the government to scrap aim to permit earlier this month.
