Access to my gas meter has been removed but I'm on a plan requiring meter readings.

dogshome

For your gas meter to be sited in this alley, the chances are that your flat has a 'Right of Way' enshrined in both the deeds of your flat and the shop.

The quick answer is for you to have a polite conversation with the shop owner, (Maybe he doesn't own it, but is a tenant himself), with the object of him supplying a key.
For the shopkeeper to go to the expense of installing a locked gate, an open alley that gives any Tom, !!!!!! or Harry access, is obviously causing him a problem of some sort.

If he won't play ball and bearing in mind the less then helpful attitude of the Managing Agent, the long answer is a letter to your landlord asking him to confirm if you have legal access to the alley, and that he enforces it if you do.

bengasman

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Not necessarily. Shopkeeper could have a tenancy giving him control of the access. He could be unaware of the presence of the gas valve, due to negligence on the part of the landlord.

Wrong, Ignorance is no defense for the shopkeeper and it his obligation to verify that his actions do not cause a danger; right of way does not give him the right deny others access to the ECV.
LL is not obliged to tell the world and his dog where the ECV is.