Interviewing Pritesh Patel, co-owner of the Brixton Station newsagent, feels like an impossible task.
Even in the quieter stretch after lunch, the conversation is interrupted every minute or so.
A customer steps forward to pay. A familiar face leans in to say how sorry they are to see the shop go. There is no such thing as a quiet moment here.
Today, Pritesh and his brother, Piyush, will close the kiosk for good after 36 years in business. It comes after Transport for London (TfL) more than doubled its rent demands as it plans to refurbish and almost double the size of the unit.
TfL initially proposed £120,000 a year, later lowering it to £85,000. Patel, who currently pays £40,000, declined the offer, saying he wants to preserve the unit as a newsagent.
Initially, Pritesh believed Places for London, TfL’s commercial property arm, would struggle to secure a tenant prepared to pay that figure. But in January 2025, a representative informed him that his lease would not be renewed.
‘That’s what you pay in Mayfair or Baker Street, but this is Brixton,’ Pritesh said, shaking his head. He acknowledges TfL’s ongoing financial pressures, but warns ‘all they’re doing is creating high turnover’.
‘I’ve been here 36 years and paid a reasonable rent. They might get a higher figure now, but in ten years this unit could be empty.’
Listings on the Places for London website show that a 1,238 sq ft retail unit at Charing Cross station is currently being marketed at £85,000 per year. The proposed post-refurbishment size of the Brixton kiosk is 248 sq ft.
A TfL spokesperson said each unit is assessed ‘based on a number of variables, not just its size,’ including its location within a station and the number of customers passing by.
They said that while Charing Cross has multiple entrances and lower overall usage at certain points, Brixton has a single entry point, meaning more people pass the unit.
The spokesperson added: ‘We always look to ensure that our rents are affordable and in line with those for similar units in the local area.’
But Pritesh fears the area will lose more than just a shop.
‘You’ll have more food, another chicken shop, but no variety. Then something else for a year,’ he said.
‘I don’t think London Underground realises you need balance in a community.’
His newsagent is one of the few remaining places in London, particularly in the south, where customers can still find specialist and foreign-language magazines.
What have people said?
During our interview, a loyal customer pauses to describe what it has meant to pick up his native French newspaper hundreds of miles from home.
‘It means a lot to me, to have a piece of home to read on my way to work,’ he said.
For many, the loss is about far more than a convenient kiosk or a reliable snack stop.
For artist Kate Newington, the kiosk was not just somewhere her family bought their travelcards, but also where she learned that Barack Obama had won the 2008 US presidential election, a moment that moved her to tears.
Tori West, founder of Bricks Magazine, remembers first passing through the station as a teenager, already dreaming of launching her own publication.
‘I remember thinking how amazing it would be to see my magazine on a newsstand like that one day,’ she said.
Years later, when Bricks was stocked at the kiosk, she felt the moment had come full circle.
‘I couldn’t believe my publication was there,’ she said.
What set the newsagent apart, she adds, was its commitment to independent media.
‘So many people passed through that station every day. It gave independent publishers real visibility.’
Now based in Brixton, where she has run Bricks for nine years, West said she is heartbroken at the closure.
‘We need spaces like this,’ she said. ‘So much of the media landscape has changed. Places where independent publications can be found are constantly being pushed out.’
When I passed by the newsagent again on Thursday, locals had left a ‘We’re going to miss you’ album with a pen beside it for others to sign.
The pages are filled with personal stories and photographs, thanking the family for everything from supplying The Guardian to shaping the community.
One person wrote: ‘Closing this kiosk is an incredibly short-sighted policy. They have brought humanity to this station for decades, which has now been sacrificed for higher rent.’
Another added: ‘You will be missed. You’re so much a part of Brixton.’
While locals offered to rally behind the kiosk and launch a fundraising campaign, Patel politely declined.
‘We’re comfortable. We’re fine,’ he said. ‘I’m not asking for money. If you want to give it, give it to people who really need it.’
The family have had a year to absorb the decision. Now, he said, they are ready to move on. ‘It is what it is,’ he said.
A Places for London spokesperson said: ‘At Brixton, we have the opportunity to increase the size of the retail unit currently occupied by the newsstand and asked Pritesh in January 2024 if he would be interested in the larger space. He decided not to stay, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.’
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