BAE has announced 19 posts in New Malden could be at risk as part of the shedding of 3,000 jobs across the country.

The defence giant said the cuts in the borough were “associated with reducing workload on information programmes and the need to remain competitive”.

The latest job losses add to ongoing public sector cuts, which saw Kingston Council make 63 staff redundant last year, and Kingston Hospital announce plans to cut 486 posts over the next five years.

However, while the borough has been buffeted by national woes, most recently furniture store Habitat going into administration in June, the picture locally is more mixed.

The town has one of the lowest shop vacancy rates in the country at 9.9 per cent, according to the Local Data Company, and KingstonFirst said footfall was outperforming the national average.

However, John Lewis reported a 5.1 per cent drop in year-on-year sales at its flagship Kingston store in the middle of September.

Upmarket Thames-side restaurant Frere Jacques announced it was cutting back full service on weekday afternoons because of the recession, and cutting staff by up to 25 per cent.

John Scott, who founded the restaurant 18 years ago, said: “The recession is having an effect, and of course restaurants are disposable income.

“I expect this coming financial year to be much more trying because the cuts are just starting.”

Lisa Gagliani, chief executive of Kingston Chamber of Commerce, said the picture in Kingston was mixed.

She said some restaurants benefited from displaced spending from people taking fewer holidays, while wine merchants benefited from people eating out less often.

She said businesses using more sophisticated marketing techniques like loyalty schemes were succeeding, but independent retailers who were not mimicking them were suffering.

She said: "In our domestic household economy, it’s like a pack of cards. Some of the big things like cars or holidays are being cut and other domestic things are being shuffled.

"We are decorating our houses and extending them with a long-term view that when we want to sell them they will have more value."

She said the chamber was trying to reach out to the independent sector.

See kingstonchamber.co.uk for details.