Many high street shops have taken drastic steps in recent years to cut their costs, but there is little that can be done about the demands of the taxman. 

Business rates are among the biggest fixed costs that town centre traders face, with bills running into thousands of pounds each year.

They are designed to take into account the value of the premises, but there were howls of protest across the district at the time of the last re-evaluation in 2010, particularly in Buckhurst Hill where the bills of some more than doubled.   

Nearly three years on, traders are still feeling the pain and are convinced that the taxman has overvalued their outlets.

Michela Mosteano who owns the Rabbit and Stars toy shop in Queens Road, said: “Rates are so high it is as though the government is trying to put people out of business.

“I cannot afford to give a job to anybody and I cannot afford to spend money on advertising, or my website.

“The rates are ridiculous, this is Buckhurst Hill, not Kensington.”

Rates are reviewed every five years, unless a business owner challenges the figure and asks for a re-assessment, something which many are reluctant to do, as the figure could be revised upwards.

Shops in High Street, Epping, have a high rental value because three years ago it was considered to be a busy area which attracted lots of shoppers.

And while the last revaluation took place in 2010, the rate was calculated, as it always is, on how valuable the shop was two years earlier – in April 2008, at the height of the boom. 

With a drastically different economy and a recent squeeze on parking places, traders in the town claim that a reduction is way overdue. 

Deborah Webb, the co-owner of Glad Rags clothes shop is relocating because her costs on the high street have become unsustainable.

She said: “The rateable value of shops in Epping High Street is between £16,000 and £18,000.

“It is a losing battle, we have to pay our bills but nobody is spending, last week was the worst I’ve known for 36 years.

“Electricity bills are huge and we have staff to pay, too. The alarm is a big expense and we have VAT and insurances to pay on everything.

“There isn’t anything you can do. We can’t stand in the dark and get rid of all the staff.”

Futher along the street, Kate Babb of The Wardrobe Mistresses, said: “Epping used to have a really really good footfall, but it isn’t the same anymore.

“We are still expected to pay the same, but people just can’t park so they aren’t coming here anymore.

“We just have to be sensible and practical to keep going.

“What else can we do, all of us stop paying our rates?”