Family-run Post Office in trendy east London neighbourhood is sieged by landlord in 4am raid - as locals declare 'nail in the coffin' for area torn apart by 'greed'

By ARTHUR PARASHAR, SENIOR REPORTER Published: 01:21, 27 July 2026 | Updated: 01:26, 27 July 2026 At 4am on a Friday, residents along Broadway Market, Hackney, were awoken to the sound of drilling as a man dressed all in black forced his way into the Post Office, changed the locks and fled under the cover of darkness. By the time managers Rajani and David arrived for work later that morning, their keys no longer opened the doors to the east London branch they have run since the early 1990s. Plastered across the graffiti-covered shutters of 39 Broadway Market were two A4 sheets of paper informing them that enforcement agents, acting on behalf of their landlord Ismet Serce, had seized control of the building and its goods. Locals claim the landlord, who closed the Post Office to carry out refurbishments around lockdown, is now demanding his hard-working leaseholders cover the rent arrears. He has taken possession of the building and left a community reeling without its only Post Office. The shock eviction on July 10 has sparked local outrage, with furious residents immediately setting up a petition that has amassed over 1,600 signatures and staging a flash mob protest on Sunday. But for many, this isn't about the sudden closure of one Post Office branch. This was a stark reminder of how their neighbourhood has been ripped apart by 'sheer greed' over the past 20 years. Walk down Broadway Market today and it is a middle-class paradise flooded with so-called 'yuppies' (young urban professionals) indulging in overpriced street food, artisan bakeries and trendy boutiques. In a candid interview with the Daily Mail, even the Hackney stalwart who spearheaded the revival of the Victorian street market in 2004 admits today: 'I hated what I'd created.'  A petition shared this photo of the moment a man dressed in black allegedly changed the locks at 4am in the morning on July 10  Locals staged a flash mob protest on Sunday to voice their anger at the Post Office closure Broadway Market has become a trendy hotspot for the middle class in recent years - with landlords blamed for pricing out locals  Broadway Market locals have always rallied against 'greedy' landlords. The community reached boiling point when Tony Platia, who had run Francesca's Cafe at 34 Broadway Market for 30 years, was turfed out by bailiffs when his property developer landlord evicted him on July 1, 2005 Such is Hackney's popularity in recent years, it has become a playground for A-listers including Paul Mescal, Charli XCX and Harry Styles.  On one side, it is unrecognisable from the run-down neighbourhood whose demise was captured appropriately by the notorious 'Broadway Market is not a sinking ship: It's a submarine' graffiti scrawled over the walls in the early 80s. That submarine came to the surface when Louise Brewood and fellow community leaders relaunched the market in 2004. But their dream was to regenerate the area, not replace it. The market was an instant hit, attracting thousands of people on its first ever day with stalls selling high-quality farmers' produce including meats, cheeses and fresh vegetables. 'We didn't expect a lot of people, but about 1,800 turned up on the first day,' Ms Brewood recalls. 'It was wonderful at first. It became this very fabulous hangout space.' But jumping on the success, Hackney Council began selling off property to developers, pricing out local long-term residents from their own neighbourhoods to help recover its £70million debt. The community reached boiling point when Tony Platia, who had run Francesca's Cafe at 34 Broadway Market for 30 years, was turfed out by bailiffs when his property developer landlord evicted him on July 1, 2005. Furious locals occupied the cafe in a bid to protect it from being sold off to become luxury flats, and a wave of anti-gentrification protests followed in what became known as the 'Battle for Broadway Market'. In an area which has seen seismic change over the last 20 years, the seemingly immortal Post Office now faces the same fate as its neighbours. 'It's disgraceful,' says Paula Smith, who has lived off the market for 26 years. 'It's one of the things on Broadway Market that is left for the local community. Let's admit it, a lot of stuff isn't about the local community. 'How can someone just come in and close it?' Residents say the family have been 'hard working for years and years', including staying open late and on Sundays during Christmas time and providing a 'huge service to the community' since the 1990s. On July 10, letters were put up by enforcement agents, acting on behalf of their landlord Ismet Serce, warning they had seized control of the building and its goods. The Post Office has been closed ever since In the early 1980s, the run-down neighbourhood was appropriately summed up by this graffiti  Pictured is the community on the day Broadway Market relaunched in 2004, a day locals recall fondly  A local newspaper cutting from the day Louise Brewood (pictured bottom left) and community leaders revived the market Louise Brewood (second from left) and friends outside her former Broadway Market shop Louise Brewood has a portrait of her at Broadway Market which hangs proudly at the top of a staircase So fury erupted when it emerged that they had been turfed out in such a cruel manner. According to locals, the bitter dispute centres on the landlord's claim that Rajani and David should pay the rent for the period the branch was closed for renovations during lockdown. They fear the landlord, who owns several properties along Broadway Market, wants to replace the Post Office with another bar or restaurant. Mr Serce 'strongly disputes' these 'misleading' claims, insisting that the rent arrears do not relate to the nine-month period that the branch was closed for refurbishments.  He denies the Post Office was broken into, arguing that it was repossessed following forfeiture and said any inconvenience caused to the public is 'regrettable'. Today, the only original Broadway Market stores are the Post Office and Bradburys Hardware, which its owners admit has only survived for 92 years because it is owned by the family rather than an exploitative landlord. 'Losing the Post Office really is the nail in the coffin,' says Ms Brewood, the self-confessed 'Hackney born and bred' who led Broadway Market's revival in 2004. 'It's like this area is no more. It takes it away from belonging to everybody to belonging to a few. I find that very sad, I cried all the way walking back from the Post Office. 'The area has been exploited to its extreme without any real valuable impact on the local community. 'It's always been a fight round here to preserve things and keep the balance, but everybody is up in arms about it. Every single one of them.' Describing the landlord's behaviour, she added: 'It's heartless. It's self-centred. There's absolutely no respect of where he holds businesses, but also no value for his customers - the leaseholders - and absolutely zero respect for the local community. 'It's just foul. It's a post office. It's a community asset. It makes him a very, nasty, selfish, greedy landlord. They've been hard working for years and years.' In a direct plea, she says: 'You're a very wealthy man. Could you not give one little thing back to all the money that you've made out of Broadway? Could you not give one little asset back to the community?' I am sitting with Ms Brewood, the former chair of the Broadway Market Traders' Association, in the living room of her classic Hackney home a stone's throw from the market. She speaks fondly of founding the market, recalling the happiness and diversity of the area.  But today, she no longer recognises it. 'I don't regret it at all because we had six or seven wonderful years where we had such fun and it was beautiful. We were a strong group, we fought a lot of things,' she says. Louise Brewood, the self-confessed 'Hackney born and bred' who led Broadway Market's revival in 2004 Tony Mahmood, who has run Bradburys Hardware store on Broadway Market for 38 years Bradburys is one of the last shops to survive on Broadway Market. It has been open 92 years, but the family own it rather than a landlord But Ms Brewood admits that she began to 'hate' and 'resent' what the market became, including the many drinking establishments and the loss of families. 'What saddens me the most is you look up and down and the majority of people are under probably under 30. There's very few children, very few families,' she says. 'And as for older people, you just don't see them and that saddens me terribly. That's always a little bit of a stab and I resent that happening.' Ms Brewood says she has a 'love-hate relationship' with the market, admitting that she would not have launched it in 2004 if she'd known what it would become. 'What drove me was to not let it be disjointed,' she says. 'Market traders were treated too badly by shops, by councils. They just weren't valued for how hard they worked.' Despite setting about improving the area, Ms Brewood – who was born in Hackney and has lived in Broadway Market for 27 years – faced her own accusations of gentrification when organic farmers produce was being sold at the market. 'It was a battle for a couple of years because there was a lot of opposition to it because it was "trendy" and "hip". I got called a gentrifier. But I made sure the balance was market trader, shop trader and resident - with resident having a slightly bigger balance,' she says. 'It was hard. But I was able to justify anything that anyone threw at me price wise.' For example, although a farmer might be selling a loaf of bread from a stall for £2.50, there was also an option for a cheaper loaf of bread at Percy Ingle, a beloved family bakery founded in Hackney in 1954. 'The grocery stores were reasonably priced, now that balance has gone. The majority of things are overpriced to other areas,' she adds. Reflecting on where the area spiralled out of their control, she explains: 'It started with the landlords going a bit more up market with their businesses because people wanted to come in. 'But they were quite greedy from day one. 'We've seen a lot of businesses come and go because the rent just gets higher and higher. 'One of the biggest problems for the street is the landlords. Their greediness will push tenants out because someone else in the wings is offering so much more.'  Ms Brewood speaks candidly when I ask her about whether she feels any guilt. 'Oh yeah,' she says. 'That came fairly early on as I was pulling away from it and saw what was happening. After ten years, I could see that it was sad. 'I hated it for a while. I hated what I created. A collection of nostalgic photos from Broadway Market. It was given a new lease of life in 2004, but greedy landlords cashed in on this 'That settled down again when I accepted that it's a beast, when I accepted that change happens and you can't do anything about it. You can't stop the wheel rolling, but it's a shame we can't influence that to be more inclusive. 'It lacks inclusiveness now. How many people do you see down there that aren't white when you walk through Broadway Market?' It's a sentiment echoed by Tony Mahmood, who has run Bradburys Hardware store for 38 of the shop's 92-year history. 'It was so multicultural, it was beautiful. There was Asians, black people, everybody was mixed. It was a Cockney area,' he says. 'Everyone loved going to the pub. We used to be a community, but it's all changed. That was a beautiful time, we'll never get that time back. 'The area has changed a lot. It's a really upper-class area now. 'People who came in the last 20 years bought properties for really high sums and started charging big rents. All the small shops disappeared. They can't afford that kind of rent. 'The only reason we survive is because we own it. If we were paying rent here from a landlord, there would be no chance. Nobody is left here.' Kathryn Lovering, 80, described the Post Office seizure as 'outrageous', adding: 'We couldn't believe it, I had literally been in there the day before.  'We were all just really distressed that somebody would do something like that.' Ms Lovering said she has seen Broadway Market change a lot since she moved near the area nine years ago.  'The Post Office is an essential service,' she says. 'There are a number of older people in the area.  'It's where we get our cash, it's where we do our banking, its where we send and get parcels from.  'They [David and Rajani] are always so nice and helpful. They just cater for everyone in the community.' Hackney Council planning documents show that the landlord was granted permission to carry out renovations at 39-41 Broadway Market – including building a three-storey rear extension and a roof extension at the Post Office (No39) in February 2020. Locals fear the Post Office will eventually cease to exist and make way for yet another restaurant or bar. 'We don't need another new restaurant,' Ms Smith, whose family have lived in Hackney for three centuries says. 'We don't need another bar. None of it. 'I do understand that people love coming to Broadway Market, but why should that mean we then don't get our basic services? That should be a community asset.' 'We're sure he's going to try and turn it into another coffee shop,' adds Ms Lovering. 'Broadway Market is very small, we have lots of coffee shops and food outlets.'  Dame Meg Hillier MP told the Daily Mail: 'I know how important local post offices are for residents and I am pressing to ensure minimal disruption of services and for a solution to the issues in play.  'Broadway Market is a vibrant and much-loved shopping street and we want our high streets to include useful shops and facilities like post offices, where possible.' A solicitor for Mr Serce said: 'This is a private commercial landlord and tenant dispute. The landlord strongly disputes the allegations being circulated online. Rent was not charged during the contractual works period, and the present arrears do not relate to that rent-suspended period. The forfeiture followed a longstanding arrears and enforcement history, not a sudden or unfair decision after rent had been paid in full. 'If the former tenant wishes to challenge the forfeiture, the proper route is through the Court, not through a public campaign based on misleading information.' A Post Office spokesperson said: 'London Fields Post Office is currently closed for operational reasons.  'We know how important this Post Office is to the community and we are working hard to restore service as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to customers by the unplanned closure.'