WHITTON High Street is getting a £350,000 facelift in a bid to restore its 1930s glamour.

Lamp posts are to be replaced and shop fronts restored as part of a major scheme to help struggling traders.

The works are the first step in longer-term plans to smarten and liven up the parade, attracting new shoppers and businesses.

Every lamp post will be replaced with traditional columns, similar to those which graced the high street in the 1930s, at a cost of £200,000.

Another £150,000 is being spent restoring 10 dilapidated shop fronts.

The work is being funded using most of the £361,000 Whitton received from Boris Johnson’s Outer London Fund, a £50million pot to help areas not benefiting from the Olympics or Crossrail.

Richmond Council has also invested £50,000 of its own money as part of its ‘Uplift’ scheme to regenerate some of the borough’s more deprived areas.

Councillor Virginia Morris, Richmond Council’s cabinet member for environment, planning, parks and highways, said: “Whitton’s a beautiful shopping centre and with this investment we hope to make it a real destination for people living here and in surrounding areas.”

Whitton High Street has already seen a number of initiatives in recent months designed to improve life for businesses and residents alike.

Bridget Clements was appointed town centre manager in April and recently introduced ‘Whitton Wednesdays’, a weekly discount scheme for independent traders.

A pop-up interactive art gallery in an empty shop has also proved a hit with shoppers keen to display their creative side and the council is keen to attract more pop-up businesses.

Council chiefs recently relaxed planning restrictions to make it easier for restaurants and bars to open, plans to renovate Whitton Library are being drawn up and there is talk of applying for conservation area status.

Meanwhile, Ms Clements said the recent opening of Lidl, which replaced the eyesore that was the old Co-Op store, was already attracting more shoppers.

Richmond Council is also bidding for more money to make longer-term improvements, such as tidying up pavements, as part of the £40 million second phase of the Outer London Fund.

Karen’s Sandwiches, near Whitton station, is one of the independent businesses chosen to have its shop front renovated.

Karen Kiwanuka, who has run the shop for 17 years, said the scheme would make a huge difference, especially as trading conditions are the toughest she has ever known.

“The high street already has quite a nice community feel, but this will help smarten it up,” she said.

“It’s nice the council is doing something to help the independent traders because it’s becoming harder and harder to compete with the big chains.”

Ellis Fine Foods, a fixture in the high street for more than a century, is also benefiting from the scheme.

Owner Lou Andrews, who has run the butchers for 23 years, said the investment would ‘help no end’.

“Not everybody wants to get their meat from the supermarket and people are very supportive of their local shops here,” he added.