By around 70% an Eastcote Café will cover its customers parking and count what happens. Throughout November, TAG on Field End Road will take up to £2.20 off the bill for customers who park in Eastcote, in a month-long trial to find out whether cheaper parking brings people back to the high street.

From 1 to 30 November, anyone who spends £9 or more on food or drink at TAG and shows a photo of that day's parking ticket or their PayByPhone screen will get up to £2.20 off their bill. That covers an hour in any of Eastcote's three council car parks. The offer applies to North View, Devonshire Lodge and Devon Parade car parks and on-street parking on Field End Road.

The trial comes days after Hillingdon Council's Cabinet approved increases that will take resident (HillingdonFirst) parking charges up by around 70%, due to start from January 2027 where feasible and by April 2027 at the latest. In Eastcote's car parks a resident's hour will go from £1.30 to £2.30. Two hours on Field End Road, which cost a resident £2.00 before April this year, will cost £5.70. A few minutes away in Harrow, including in Pinner and Rayners Lane, the first hour is free.

TAG is running the offer as a measured trial rather than a promotion. Through October it recorded a baseline, including an anonymous in-store vote. Asked "Does the cost of parking affect how often you visit Eastcote?", two in three customers who drive said yes (160 of 238 drivers, with a separate box for people who walk). In November, customers will be asked whether the offer affected their decision to visit, and trade will be compared with the same month last year. TAG will publish the results in December and share them with the council.

Hovig Yardim, owner of TAG, said: "We can't fix the council's budget, and we know our councillors are facing some really hard choices. But we can find out what an hour of free parking does for a high street. Our customers have been telling us for a long time that parking matters. In November, we're going to measure it.

"If you put the price of a coffee up to £10, the money per cup looks great on paper, until nobody buys one. Parking works the same way. A decision this big deserves real evidence, and we'd rather help provide some than just complain. If it works for one café, imagine what it could do for the whole parade."

Eastcote resident Jane Woodley said: "Eastcote is a gem, and we all want to see it sparkle and thrive. Our high street matters enormously to the people who live, work and shop here, so I'm excited that we're trying something a bit different with parking and finding out what difference it actually makes."

Earlier this year, 12 of 13 Eastcote businesses that answered an anonymous poll reported lower takings than the year before, and 14 of 18 said customers had told them they were visiting less often or going elsewhere.