Café boss fears for district

Majid Yazdani closed down Café Noir on the corner of Osler Road and London Road earlier this month.

The 45-year-old said he made the difficult decision to close his “beloved” café and restaurant because of increasing rents.

He said: “It was an extremely difficult decision to close considering that there are so many empty shops in Headington and I think it was our downfall that we were so successful.

“But we only had 12 tables so we could not justify paying the increased rent.

“Headington is a very cosmopolitan area and it is a great place to be but I speak to a lot of my clients and they all say there is not much choice available in Headington.”

Mr Yazdani, who had been running Café Noir since 1990, said his rent started at £13,000 when he took over the business.

It was then increased to £19,000 but his lease on the building was running out and the landlord demanded a rent of more than £27,000, which Mr Yazdani said he was not able to afford.

He added: “Headington doesn’t have anything to offer if you don’t live or work here. You have no reason to come here.

“There is not that variety of shops any more. We have lots of charity shops and estate agents.”

Headington is currently home to nine charity shops including two run by Cancer Research UK.

In addition supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is moving into the unit currently occupied by Peacock’s, while Morrison’s is opening in the former Blockbusters store.

Tesco is also believed to be in talks to open a store in London Road but a site is not yet chosen.

This will be in addition to the Co-op, Waitrose and Iceland which are already open.

Mr Yazdani said: “Once all the supermarkets are here we will have six. Headington does not have a big population and I don’t know how it can support six.

“I have spoken to independent shopkeepers who are concerned that rents are going to creep up.”

Mr Yazdani said his landlords were RMA Properties but when asked the company declined to comment.