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How Many Empty Shops In Hereford 2014?


Colin James

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I'm thinking of opening a shop selling cheap tat too...

I'm going to call it:  "Clarkesters 98p Emporium"

Yeah, you heard it right Pound Land!  I'm going to under cut you by 2p!!

All I need is:

A shop...

Some tat to sell...

And a couple of rolls of 2p's...

Sorted!

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Thursday 9 October 2014 in Hereford Times Letters

 
SIXTEEN empty shops in High Town. Some of these have moved over to ‘you know where’. Widemarsh Street and High Town messed with bird droppings and litter, often a most unattractive sight.
 
Burnt buildings under scaffolding for four years and no pressure exerted to obtain rebuilding. The Butter Market in a dire state of neglect and lacking basic facilities.
 
Hereford’s traders bearing the full rates burden while others elsewhere have a three-year rates holiday. Street cleaning twice daily in the Old Market; once a week if you are lucky in the old city.
 
Public toilets shut, so visitors can cross their legs or just go home. Who wants to visit a historic city, when cheap retail and loads of coffee are just across the road?
 
Dastardly plot to destroy High Town and move its retail elsewhere? It may not be intentional but that is the effect of what is happening.
 
HUBERT PORTE
Madley

 

 

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In Management Today by Jack Torrance Thursday, 09 October 2014

 
More shops than ever are lying empty despite the improving economy.
 
If anyone thought that the accelerating economy would save the Great British high street then figures released today should make them think again. Data from PwC and the Local Data Company show that 3,003 shops closed during the first half of 2014, an average of 16 per day.
 
Though better than last year’s daily rate of 18, the number of new shops opening has fallen, meaning a net loss of 406 shops in the six months to June, compared to 371 in all of last year. The figures aren’t likely to improve any time soon – the figures do not account for the recent downfall of Phones 4u, the majority of whose 700 units have not been reoccupied. London and the east of England were the only regions that didn't see an overall decline while the north-west and east midlands were hardest hit.
 
It's not like there's a lack of desire for these units; many ecommcerce companies would jump at the chance to gain a physical presence. But faced with landlords unwilling to offer competitive rents and a business rates system which unfairly penalises the high street, the numbers often just don't add up. 
 
The nature of the shops that remain is also changing. DVD rental shops have virtually disappeared and building society branches, clothes shops and pawnbrokers are also shrinking in number. In their place we're seeing more coffee shops, restaurants and bookmakers.
 
'We're heading for a High Street based around immediate consumption of food, goods and services or distress or convenience purchases,' said Mark Hudson, retail leader at PwC. 'I'm not sure that's what customers really want - but consumer and business economics are pointing in that direction at the moment.'
 
Separate figures from Experian yesterday appeared to support this, showing a 186% rise in convenience stores, a 173% rise in tattoo parlours and a 114% rise in the number of gyms.
 
Experian senior consultant Richard Jenkings said, 'The high street has clearly become a more social environment, with more restaurants, cafes and leisure facilities emerging up and down the country. We have seen a clear expansion in the number of retailers where the customer actually needs to be there in person to enjoy the experience, such as cafés, health clubs and even tattooists.' 

 

The latest planning application for an amusement arcade in Commercial Street supports this trend.

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Jack Torrance hit the nail on the head with his write up in Management today & why we complain about empty shops is beyond me as there simply is not the need for most of them.
Take out coffee shops,phone shops,charity shops and the City Center would be three parts empty would it not.
The way we shop,what we shop for and where has changed and has been doing so since the arrival of Supermarkets & the internet

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It would need to be affordable though - The Conservative Club in East Street has recently been redeveloped into apartments.

 

Prices are around £150,000 for a one bed flat. I believe the flats where the old Green lands building was in Wide marsh Street are also pretty pricey.

 

These sort of price tags put them beyond the reach of many folk -particularly first time buyers -who like the idea of city centre living, which is a real shame.

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635,127 empty homes are currently empty in England according to the 2013 Empty Homes Statistics

The latest (October 2013, published March 2014)  empty homes statistics show that of these, 232,600 are  long- term empty (meaning they have been empty for more than six months).  

 

Herefordshire Unitary Authority

Total Dwellings 81,296

Number Empty Homes 1,720

Long Term Empty Homes 787

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  • 2 months later...

It is a shame.

 

However, to balance that.....two new shops have opened in Widemarsh Street recently.  A stationary/craft shop, and also the guys who own Berry Red up Church Street, have opened a second shop.

 

In Church Street itself, another couple of new shops have opened....and when I walked down earlier, it does appear that all premises are now open and trading, which is brilliant!

 

The guys who had the tobacco stand in the Butter market, who had taken over the shop on the corner of Widemarsh Street and Bewell Street have now moved BACK to the Buttermarket. They told me that although footfall was good, it was just too expensive to stay there.

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In addition, Topshop will be closing it's doors for good quite soon. Leaving another empty unit in Maylords.

 

It's interesting to see, Colin, that you started this thread just over a year ago with a count up of the empty premises. It would perhaps be an idea, to repeat this exercise, and compare the two figures??

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I will try and find the time to run the same exercise.

 

Okay, I have good news and bad news, good news is that Millets is not closing down permanently, they are merely closing for a refurbishment. 

 

Millets.jpg

 

Bad news is that SuitU and Top Shop are closing their stores in the town centre.

 

SuitU.jpg

 

TopShop.jpg

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Some 4 years ago Mrs Ubique was a volunteer at the Barnados Charity Shop opposite the Post Office when the Charity closes the shop telling the volunteers that the rent had increases too much for the charity - you will know that the shop is still empty so the owners have lost 4 years rent.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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