Westminster has cancelled the second phase of its Paddington and Bayswater shopfront scheme after the contractor collapsed. Thirteen shops are dropped.
Westminster City Council has scrapped the second phase of its shopfront improvement schemes in Paddington, Bayswater and North Paddington. Thirteen businesses that were promised new shopfronts will not now get them.
The decision was taken on 9 September and published on 17 September. It affects six businesses in Paddington Bayswater and seven in North Paddington, all of which had designs drawn up and had signed a Letter of Agreement with the council. The council will now serve notice to terminate those agreements.
About £408,000 has already been spent on the two cancelled phases. None of it has put up a shopfront.
What the council decided
Debbie Jackson, the Executive Director of Regeneration, Economy and Planning, approved three things in the record of decision:
- not to proceed with Phase 2 of either scheme, after what the report calls a critical review of the programme
- to serve notice terminating the Letters of Agreement with the businesses
- to promote a borough-wide Shopfront Design Toolkit instead, through business communications and social media
The reasoning is blunt. The report says the case for Phase 2 “is no longer sufficiently robust to justify the additional expenditure”, citing increased cost and delivery risk, the need to run a fresh procurement, and “the cumulative visual and operational impact of further shopfront interventions”.
The contractor went into liquidation
Phase 1 was let on a JCT contract dated 19 December 2025 covering twelve businesses in Paddington Bayswater. The contractor was Cuttle Construction Limited.
Work started on six of the twelve. It got as far as scaffolding, licences, site set-up, asbestos surveys and stripping out. Then it stopped.
The council terminated the contract on 23 April 2026, and terminated the North Paddington construction contract the same day. On 1 May it appointed Mitre Construction Company Limited to make the six live sites safe and finish them: up to £84,000 for urgent interim remedial and temporary protection works by letter of intent, and up to £160,000 for the outstanding works under a full contract. That is up to £244,000 to complete six shopfronts that had already been paid for once.
The council puts the cost of the contractor ceasing to trade at approximately £200,000, covering additional scaffolding, legal fees, duplicate construction costs and preliminaries, remedial works and internal resources.
Companies House records show what happened to the contractor. Cuttle Construction Ltd, company number 03902369, was incorporated on 5 January 2000 and is now in liquidation. Its filing history records an extraordinary resolution to wind the company up on 27 May 2026, the appointment of a voluntary liquidator filed on 10 June, a change of registered office to Opus Restructuring LLP in Milton Keynes the same day, and a statement of affairs filed on 2 July.
The council’s termination came about five weeks before the winding-up resolution.
Where the £408,000 went
The money is split across the two schemes, and the report sets out both.
Paddington Bayswater Phase 2
- approximately £148,000 spent so far on design, planning, legal and internal costs
- approximately £290,000 left in the budget envelope
- approximately £370,000 now estimated to build it, including risk, contingency and internal costs
- a shortfall of about £80,000 above the money available
North Paddington Phase 2
- a capital budget of approximately £610,000, plus business contributions
- approximately £260,000 spent so far on design, planning, legal and internal costs
The council expects an unspent budget on both schemes once refunds and closing costs are settled. It also accepts that a proportion of the £408,000 already spent becomes what the report calls abortive expenditure.
The designs themselves survive. Planning permission has been granted for all six Paddington Bayswater shopfronts, and the seven North Paddington applications have been submitted but not yet decided. The council says the completed designs stay available to the businesses if they want to pay for the work themselves.
What it means for you
If you are one of the 13 businesses. The council will serve written notice to end your Letter of Agreement. The agreement allows the council to terminate at its sole discretion, for breach or for convenience, on two weeks’ written notice. If you have already paid a contribution towards your shopfront, the report says it will be returned plus 10% as a gesture of goodwill. Your design, and in Bayswater your planning permission, remain yours to use.
If you are a shopkeeper elsewhere in Westminster. The council’s replacement offer is the borough-wide Shopfront Design Toolkit, which is guidance rather than money. Any work you do to a shopfront in a conservation area or on a listed building still needs consent. Our Westminster planning news page tracks what the council is deciding.
If you are watching the council’s capital programme. Both the April terminations and this cancellation were taken by an officer under delegated powers, not by councillors. Neither was classed as a key decision or made subject to call-in, which is why neither went before a committee and why the first public notice of each was a record of decision posted weeks after the event.
Frequently asked questions
Which shops are affected?
Thirteen businesses: six in Paddington Bayswater and seven in North Paddington. The council has not published their names or addresses in the decision record.
Will the businesses get their money back?
The council’s report says contributions already paid will be returned, plus 10% as a gesture of goodwill.
Why was the scheme cancelled?
The council says the case for Phase 2 is no longer sufficiently robust to justify the additional expenditure, after its contractor stopped trading. It also cites increased cost, delivery risk and the need to run a fresh procurement.
Can the shops still have the work done?
Yes, at their own expense. The completed designs remain available to them. Planning permission has been granted for all six Paddington Bayswater shopfronts, and the seven North Paddington applications have been submitted but not yet decided.
Who was the contractor?
Cuttle Construction Ltd, company number 03902369. Companies House records the company as in liquidation, following a resolution to wind it up on 27 May 2026.
Sources
- Westminster City Council, Paddington Bayswater and North Paddington Shopfront Improvements Schemes, Phase 2, decision of 9 September 2026, published 17 September, and the record of officer executive decision for the six and seven businesses, the £148,000, £290,000, £370,000, £80,000, £610,000 and £260,000 figures, the £200,000 impact, the 10% goodwill refund and the quoted reasoning. Part B of the report is exempt from publication.
- Westminster City Council, Shopfronts Construction Contract Termination: Paddington Bayswater High Streets Programme, decision of 23 April 2026, and the North Paddington termination of the same date, for the JCT contract dated 19 December 2025 and the six of twelve properties where work had started.
- Westminster City Council, Contract Award for Contractor to conduct Outstanding Works - Bayswater Shopfront Improvements Scheme - Phase 1, decision of 1 May 2026, for the appointment of Mitre Construction Company Limited and the £84,000 and £160,000 contract values.
- Companies House, Cuttle Construction Ltd, company 03902369, for the incorporation date, the liquidation status, the 27 May 2026 winding-up resolution, the 10 June appointment of a voluntary liquidator and the 2 July statement of affairs.
Figures are the council’s own estimates as recorded in the published decision. The £408,000 is the sum of the two spend-to-date figures it gives for Phase 2.
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