Yes to all of this. What comes immediately to mind is the chip shop in Notting Hill that closed up recently and sold the terrace they were in for 5 million or s

Yes to all of this. What comes immediately to mind is the chip shop in Notting Hill that closed up recently and sold the terrace they were in for 5 million or something daft like that. Rents, rates and generally just policy have made it impossible for real people to exist in basically any "known" area now. Any new business that's even remotely interesting is either loss making or barely breaking even, and so has to have a rich backer. I say rich here not as a slur, but to indicate that they can just decide to spend money on a pet project. That's not how business works, normal people with interesting ideas are pushed out as a result and all that works is huge mega chains and Instagram shit. The odd oldschool place that is either owned outright or has some sort of mega long lease deal might hang on but again it's basically loss making like that chip shop, it'd make more money if you just sold it, which means normal people can't even do it in the first place.