Independent coffee shop owners in North Finchley say big chains are saturating the market and putting their businesses at risk.

Costa Coffee opened a new branch in High Road this week next to an existing Starbucks, and it is thought Harris and Hoole, part-owned by Tesco, plans to open in the former Game shop just down the road.

This would leave six coffee shops – Café Buzz, Chix Chox, Coffee Republic, Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Harris Hoole – all within a 150-yard stretch of the high street.

Raj Mathur owns Coffee Republic, which, although part of a small chain, operates as independent franchised business.

He believes the opening of yet more coffee shops is bad news for his business and the high street in general.

He said: “It is a fight for survival. It is not about big versus small, it is about the saturation of the market. There are too many coffee shops and someone will perish.

“The council needs to think of the overall health of the high street. It is no good one shop opening if it closes another. They should at least notify us that there are more coffee shops opening and perhaps find out if it is needed, but we were told nothing.

“We need diversity in the high street – there is no point in just having more of the same.”

Barnet Council says that, if the correct planning and application process is followed, is it unable to prevent a legitimate business from opening in the borough.

But parking charges campaigner and owner of Café Buzz, Helen Michael, believes the authority should be able to do more to protect local businesses.

The businesswoman, who has owned her shop for the past seven years, also believes some responsibility lies with national coffee chains.

She said: “The big chains should have a bit of sympathy. It is not unusual for them to run at a loss for a while and be supported by the central business but we have no such support.

“If they take ten or 15 per cent of our business away, that is the difference between surviving and not.

“The council should be able to step in and say there are too many coffee shops. I’ve worked really hard to try and sort the parking out around here to help businesses but these chains won’t get involved in local issues like that.

“I’m very, very concerned but fortunately I have a loyal customer base and hopefully they will continue to support me. We need local people supporting local businesses.”