Betting shops are a common sight on Britain's high streets, but in Brent, north-west London, they are particularly concentrated. So many of the retail units in Brent's Victorian and Edwardian high street buildings are betting shops or slot arcades that the borough ranks second in London for the number of gambling premises. This has prompted local politicians to campaign against the harms of gambling and what they see as their lack of power to control it.
Local politicians have spoken out in the press, at council meetings and on social media about the damage caused by the growth of betting shops and other gambling premises in their area. They also played a leading role in convincing the government to scrap the aim to permit earlier this month.
