Geraldine Hackett and Eric Sorensen of the Angel Association

CIVIC societies have written to a developer to beg them to act after a row of shops on Islington Green have stood empty for more than 20 years.

The shops that back on to Essex Road and Islington Green have been described as an “eyesore” and a “blight” by community members after they were left boarded up for decades following a botched property deal between a property company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Islington’s planning department.

The letter, signed by five community groups, states: “The people of Islington must live with this unsightly view at the heart of our community, seemingly with no resolution in sight.”

Eric Sorensen of The Angel Association said the community are concerned the “stalemate” could go on indefinitely unless someone backs down, and called for pop-up shops there.

The sticking point of the 2002 deal is an agreement by the developer to refurbish a large Victorian underground music hall in order to get the green light to build flats above the site, which was formerly a timber yard.

But the agreement faltered after the developer built the flats but no ­theatre appeared, and in apparent retaliation, Islington refused to let the developer sell the shop units. They have stood empty ever since.

“Because of this continuing issue with the planning position of the local authority – and we don’t want to cut across that – what we want to do is see if we can get at least some temporary sort of pop-up shops that don’t take a lot of fitting out,” Mr Sorensen said.

“At least the space gets used a bit. We think it looks pretty sad, frankly. And it is pretty disrespectful to the local community. There is absolutely no reason why the shopfronts shouldn’t be used.”

In its heyday the Collins Music Hall, now a Waterstones, was a 1,000-seater theatre with major stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Gracie Fields performing there, although it fell on hard times after the Second World War and closed following a fire in 1958.

The letter, signed by the Angel Association, the Islington Society, the Arlington Association, the Duncan Terrace Association and the Upper Street Association, has been sent to the developer’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur as well as a property in Aztec Row, Angel, which is listed as being lived in by the son of the corporation’s magnate.

After the planning deal, a basement was dug 22 metres down to make space for a 600-person theatre and a shell was constructed before everything ground to a halt. Since then, it has been used to film music video for One Direction and host a gig for Skepta – but the units above and the theatre remain unopened.

An Islington Council spokesperson said: “We are sympathetic with the views of local residents and share their concerns about the empty retail units and theatre. We have made numerous attempts to encourage the owner to work with an operator to fill the space and retail units but without success, and we are unable to force the owner to do this.”

The developer has not responded to calls and emails from the Tribune.