Artistic prints, fashionable hair straighteners, and a bottle of whiskey signed by Gordon Brown were amongst the lots auctioned by Emily Thornberry MP last Sunday at a local pub on Amwell Street.
The auction had been arranged to raise funds for the Amwell Street Traders' legal fight against Islington Council over their sell-off of 220 local shops and community centres. The traders' group, which represents local shops on Amwell Street including a 150-year-old chemists and the last second-hand bookshop in Islington, are mounting a legal challenge to the council's controversial decision to proceed with the sell-off.
Filthy McNasty's, a whiskey pub on Amwell Street, hosted the event which was attended by over a hundred people including both Islington's Labour MPs and a dozen Labour councillors.
Property developer David Pearl has put in a bid for the entire portfolio of shops that Islington is selling off - with individual traders who want to buy their shops being forced to match his price. Emily opened the fundraiser auction by joking that David Pearl had also put in a bid for the portfolio of auction items - though she added that, in the interest of fairness, local people would not be forced to match.
Emily said:
"The sell-off of these shops is criminal - the Lib Dem Council is going after profit, and they do not care if a 150-year-old chemists or a 55-year-old florists becomes a Starbucks overnight. The local shop-keepers donated some of their products to be auctioned - and local people came along to buy them. I was glad to do whatever I could to help the traders fight the council's decision"
