Economy
How Immigrant Businesses on One London Street Adapt to Rising Rents
They split the costs and share the benefits of their small, expensive space.
Rye Lane is a busy half-mile stretch in South London’s Peckham neighborhood. African supermarkets, Chinese restaurants, Halal butchers, and Kurdish Internet cafes are among the many multicultural businesses lining this colorful strip. Two-thirds of the retail units there are occupied by immigrants, hailing from 20-some countries around the world.
Traditionally, Peckham housed large shares of low- to middle-income residents. But property values have been creeping up and local community leaders are worried about—you guessed it—gentrification. In response to rising rents, immigrant retailers have been improvising with ways to keep their increasingly scarce and expensive space affordable.