Richard Hawley wrote:
that is happening here,the rent price increase has forced the great shop Rare and racey to the brink i heard a rumour they are shutting in April,the same thing happened to Mr Kites i love the Devonshire green shops bit of Sheff it'll be sad to see it disapear
This has been on the cards for ages (and I'm not excusing the developers one iota here, or saying they are in any way beneficial) but it may also down to the greedy bleeders who already own the 'old' buildings. I used to run a mountaineering shop, 'Rock + Run', it was next door to the corner place on Devonshire Street, t'other side of Westfield Terrace from the Frog and Parrot.
When I started there there was a plumber's merchants (that became the Halcyon bar), a travel agents (Starbucks perhaps?), a hearing aid shop (Ark???), a card / gift / painting shop (Ark again) - basically the sort of place you can't find any more.
Our shop was very special - 3 blokes like me, all very experienced climbers / mountaineers, using the specialist kit every week for years- we knew what was what, weren't swayed by fashions / trends (much anyway), all we did was work at climbing and play at climbing - sho had been there 12 years, people knew us personally, we new them, they got discounts for loyalty, very good personal service etc. etc.
Put it this way, if you needed a spare bit for a 10 year old camping stove or an ice axe that hadn't been manufactured for 9 years, we probably had it - and could tell you how to use it properly.
The lease was 15 years - the day it ran out the landlord increased it by 100%. Boom, gone within a year or so.... a sad loss.
Actually, the burgeoning need for city centre land and premises is responsible for that, and it's driven by large companies and development. Bastards.