TWO established shops in Hedon are relocating!
Hedon Carpets & Beds are expecting to move from their current base in Watmough’s Arcade to Hedon Market Place. The move is expected to take place April or May 2014. The only vacant premises fronting the Market Place is that formerly occupied by the Potters Cabin, so it is assumed this will be the new home for Hedon Carpets & Beds?
The shop is having a clearance sale ahead of the move, so will be an attraction in Hedon for bargain hunters!
A & D Angling on George Street is moving further afield – the local fishing
community will be disappointed to discover that the popular little ‘fishing tackle’ shop is relocating to Newbridge Road in East Hull on 1st March 2014.
Other business snippets:
- The Laughing Gravy Sandwich Shop on New Road, which opened in April/May 2013, appears to have closed down; although no public notice has been posted on the shop front or the shop’s Facebook Page to explain any reasons why.
- Work continues in the former Audio Room on St Augustine’s Gate which is to become an extension to Heron Foods.
- Next door to the A & D Angling on George Street is the former Sweetpea Boutique (and before that Game People) which we understand is going to open up as another hairdresser’s.
- The old Costume Crazy premises on New Road is still empty.
Pass on your local snippets of business news to news@hu12online.net and any interesting staff stories too! And of course local businesses are always welcome to promote any special offers via the Hedon Blog!
Just seen an advert in the Holderness Gazette wanting chefs for an ‘exciting new cafe diner’ opening in the ‘Hedon area’. I will leave it with you Ray to do a bit of investigative work!
Sarah – Just call me Sherlock Duff!
My guess its Alison Hall… although i looked into it myself and thought the rent was reasonable but the asking price of £100000 for the fixtures and fittings was ridiculous.
I would love to open up my business in Hedon. From an online to a shop would be my dream but I just couldn’t afford to take the plunge. Some incentives would be great. Even if they started a pop up type shop where small or new business’s would be able to have a taste of it. A months or more lease etc. this would encourage people into the town as many businesses are now on social networks with many followers. This would be great if someone would help to start this up.
The Indoor market does deals like this Kim , in the corner were the cornmill cafe is
Neil, the information came from someone who works at one of the doctors surgeries. I may inquire further.
Alison is right, the expense of running a business is crucifying. We have been around almost 50 years now and through a mixture of sheer hard graft and a bit of luck we are still here. We work long hours and have cut staffing to a minimum, we also open on Sundays now (something we really didn’t want to do) all to try and bring in extra revenue to cover rent, rates, electricity etc. It’s these overheads that are pushing businesses to the brink – you have to make a lot of profit these days to cover costs, yet the internet and multinationals also mean prices have to be competitive to keep trade coming in. Good luck to anyone trying to start out in retail at the minute; I really hope the Council can come up with a way to keep our shops vibrant, interesting and successful.
EAST RIDING COUNCIL has announced its intention to set up a grants scheme to ‘Help Out Our High Streets’ and service centres (see: http://www.hu12online.net/debate/help-out-our-high-street-council-grants-plan-announced/)
Council officers are to draw up a scheme that could support enterprise and communities, and investigate how it could be funded. They aim is to base it upon the ideas of the (Mary) Portas Grants.
The basic tenets of the Portas grants, were designed to encourage: “all those areas that are able to come together, plan together and act together to make a difference. The creation of town teams, neighbourhood plans and the Government’s ‘localism’ agenda could all be catalysts for change.”
Two questions:
not sure i understand how this will work or who it will benefit , i dont think we need any more community project funding…i think we need to see some reduction in the business rates to encourage new business start ups within the town, if we dont address this situation we will see our high street overun with cafes and fast food outlets as seen in other areas. This is because they are high profit and can afford the business rates. The market in my opinion should be moved to market hill and extended its really neither use nor ornament at the moment if they moved it and made it bigger it would attract more people to the town …footfall is what our local economy needs. maybe even a saturday farmers market as well. The council need to do a bit of blue sky thinking. Hedon has a lot to offer if only they could see it….look to other small market towns for inspiration, Beverley, Skipton are great examples of what a good sized market can do to change the prospects of a small town.
We were told that both Doctors on Market Hill are to relocate together to a medical centre, whether this is a refurbished building or purpose built, we do not know, this may help with parking problems within Hedon especially Market Hill, but then again it needs to be close enough for people to get too.
I have been saying this for years …were did you hear that Jim… would be interested in finding out if theres any truth in it .
I couldnt agree more, the costs of rent and rates are totally unrealistic when compared with footfall in the town. Unless you are in a high profit business its practically impossible to earn a living in Hedon. I have looked at various premises before opening my store on holderness road were i pay less than a quarter of what they want in hedon and have much more footfall.
I’m not surprised so many small and new businesses in Hedon can’t manage to survive, the costs of renting a commercial property in Hedon are prohibitive for anyone wanting to start a business from scratch unless you have a huge wad of capital to fall back on. A friend and I looked at the viability of opening a co-operatively run craft materials shop/gallery/workshop space in Hedon and to put it in modern parlance – it’s a no brainer’. When we did the ‘sums’ we would need at least £20k in the first year to pay the basics of rent, rates and utilities – and that’s with no staff costs. Unless the owners of commercial property in Hedon are prepared to lease properties at a realistic and affordable level, there will continue to be empty shops.
Market towns like Hedon should be at the heart of the economic recovery; small vibrant communities with a diversity of interesting shops alongside the butcher, the baker and the greengrocer to attract shoppers and visitors to the town. Commercial landlords obviously prefer to have empty properties rather than let them out for a low return and so offer the opportunity to new businesses to get a chance to help get the economy moving again.
In the current issue of the “Holderness Gazette” there is an advertisement for “Yorkshire Mobility” which states that they will soon be opening a new store in Hedon. Presumably when “Hedon Carpets” moves to the Market Place.