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Rent rise hammer blow to traders

Laura Thistlethwaite
20/ 3/2008

NEIGHBOURING businesses in West Didsbury are set to close because of hikes in rental costs and a decline in passing trade.

Three businesses on boutique-filled Burton Road will close due to suffering sales and increasing lease costs.

Leo’s Newsagents and Emporium gift shop – which have been present in the village for a combined 95 years – will cease trading this fortnight. Staff at Emporium say their rent has quadrupled since the beginning of the year.

Hub – a once thriving fashion hotspot – is also destined for closure in May.

And shutters have pulled down at Ramblas Tapas Bar since Wednesday, March 5, but the owner could not be contacted to comment on whether he intends to reopen.

All are just a few metres away from each other, on the same side of the street.

Owners feel they are being pushed out by rising rent, which local estate agents say is due to property values in the area rising by up to 200 per cent over a four-year period.

Narendra Gulhati, 71, has run Emporium for 35 years. He will close the gift shop on Monday, March 31, after landlords asked for four times as much rent – raising it from a minimal £3,000 to £12,000 per annum. Mr Gulhati said: "I don’t think many business around here are doing well, everyone seems to be struggling. Landlords and estate agents seem to think Burton Road is a goldmine, but it’s not.

"It’s the end of an era for me, the property changed hands in January so they put the rent up and I just can’t afford it anymore. They were trying to push it even higher and in the end they weren’t prepared to compromise.

"People aren’t making money, so soon they have no choice but to sell to chains, because they are the only ones who can afford it. At the minute it is all independent businesses, but it soon won’t be.

"When I opened in 1973, there were a lot of students around here. Now most of them have been priced out, it’s mainly well-off families and high flyers who don’t shop locally."

Leo’s Newsagents is five doors down from Emporium; it will close permanently on Saturday, March 22.

Owner Dikesh Ghelani, has been there nearly nine years. He says he is being driven out by lack of business: "People have been asking me if I’m retiring, but I’m not – I can’t afford to stay here any more there isn’t enough business.

"I’m sad to leave because I get on with so many people around here. The same faces come in for a chat every day and I will miss that. I’ve got to know all the local residents over the years."

Chic boutique, Hub, will follow suit in May. The fashion enterprise was launched ten years ago by Louise Graham, who is selling up to focus on her shop in London.

Ali Murphy, has been manager of Hub for four years. She said: "It seems Burton Road in general isn’t getting enough business from passing trade. Our regulars are brilliant, but we just aren’t getting enough people in. We have a fixed lease which runs out in May, so we’ve chosen then to close. It‘s likely the next occupants will have to pay triple the rent."

West Didsbury councillor Graham Shaw said he could not see an easy solution to prevent more closures. He said: "I’m very disappointed to hear so many independent businesses are closing, it’s very sad. I don’t know what can be done."