Third of Oxford Street candy shops already shut after ‘dirty money’ crackdown

Nine Oxford Street candy shops have been shut down following a “dirty money” crackdown.

Almost a third of candy shops on Oxford Street have now been closed over the last few months with £250,000 in business rates claimed back by Westminster City Council.

But the local authority still has a long way to go to claim back the full £8m worth of payments being dodged by shops in the area, which are often found to be full of counterfeit goods.

More than £200,000 worth of counterfeit goods from sweet and souvenir shops was discovered during previous raids along Oxford Street.

Items including counterfeit vapes, cigarettes and fake toys were found in the stores, while food and drink products such as “fnta” and “wonka bars” have also been seized from shops.

After the Labour Party took over the council following May’s local elections, it announced a tougher stance on the issue.

New plans to ensure businesses pay their fair share of tax and prevent foreign property owners using local shops as a hub for “dirty money” have been unveiled.

Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug said: “For unscrupulous sweet shop traders on Oxford Street, life is becoming increasingly sour.

“The rash of mixed sweet and souvenir shops which sprung up during lockdown have by general consent dragged the tone of the area down as well as in some cases openly flouting trading standards laws.”

He continued: “They have fleeced both customers and the taxpayer through widespread evasion of business rates amounting to around £8m.

“However, we are now seeing consistent and determined action getting results.

“The number of sweet and souvenir stores on Oxford Street has dropped by a third, from 30 to 21, as a combination of trading standards and legal action starts to bite.”

The council recently closed three sweet shops for not paying business rates and a further two shops paid £250,000 in rate arrears to avoid being taken to court.

Mr Hug added: “We continue to raid shops where we have well-founded suspicions unsafe or illegal items are being sold.

“Our most recent raid recovered 14,000 suspect items from just two shops on Oxford Street - the largest haul we have ever seen in one operation.”

And he said the council would continue working with the Met Police, HMRC and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to “fight wider suspected illegality around some of these venues”.