Lewes Forum thread

Curry's went last year
Clintons went a few weeks ago
Now it's time for Stead & Simpson to hang up their boots

I am wondering, from my Zimbabwean lair, what the
rents are for a shop like Clintons?

I was shocked to see Stead and Simpson having a closing down sale. There will not be anything left except upmarket shops for people with money in their pockets! Its disgraceful!

Yes , this is the second to last nail in the coffin of Lewes.The last one will be the rest of these silly traffic ideas, whats wrong with roads for wheels pavements for legs .....

Tell you what: let's put a four lane highway straight through the middle of it. That will solve the problem, I'm sure.

Clinton Cards tried to negotiate a lower rent for their premises, L.D.C. refused.
So rather than have less rent and keep a shop open, they have no rent income now for that building and have contributed to the decline of the precinct.
Wont be long before we see tumble weed rolling over the bridge.

I thought that much of the precinct was owned by Cheval properties and not LDC. I assume that mean the business rate, if not I stand corrected.
As far normal shops are concerned it is mixture of high rent, business rent and less demand. Much of our normal shopping is conducted at the supermarket, malls, online and therefore demand at S&S etc is diminished. We must all try and support the town centre shops. Without trade they will go.

Well said SQ sense at last! I thought sarcasm wasn't your thing!

Love how people blame the council for literally everything, I think you'll find it's the private landlords that have overpriced the rent! Although it's fair to say that under the tories LDC only have eyes for Newhaven, they don't care about Lewes as it returns liberals and independants!

It's a shame but Lewes precinct appears to be getting more depressing by the day.
Tesco's also seem to have lost their way and last week was scruffy and not very welcoming!

It would be nice Merlin, however there are other towns nearby where one can park for free and therefore spend a stress free morning not constantly looking at ones watch. Towns where overstaying your welcome by ten mins does not result in throwing away thirty five notes.
If one doesn't mind outrageous parking fees then there is a city 15 mins away where the choice of shops and restaurants almost makes it worthwhile.
It's over for the High Street, just accept it

Yeah - there's never anybody down there. Like a ghost town every day.

Lewes, is turning into Burgess Hill shopping center and what a sh1t hole that is, Lets pave the lot so it can be one great market full of over priced tosh and traders who take the money out of the town which should be spent in the local shops,

I am often asked by visitors/strangers at the top of the town -where the town is, what shops do we have-. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce should consider putting a better physical Lewes town centre guide (featuring local shops, paid for by local Chamber of Commerce with contribution from council) outside the station and at the Bottleneck and top of Station Street.
Its going to be hard to break the cycle of decline -ultimately, websites and supermarkets have created a buying atmosphere where they can offer great value and free delivery and this outweighs other factors like good customer service.
Instead of moaning we either have to shop more locally or think of solutions -perhaps you should be able to get your parking refunded LCC if you make a purchase at a local High St or Cliffe shop over £10/20 (and I dont mean Tesco/Waitrose as they contribute to the decline)
Clintons site would be a an excellent place for a good Pound Shop!
People have less disposable income and want to enjoy spending it , which for many means a trip away from their home town to a retail palace or bigger town.
But, its true, people love Seaford because its free parking for 2 hours, and very cheap and available paid parking also.
Unfortunately, the goose has popped her last golden egg and the council/parking folks need to relinquish hold of her neck.
Help the shops by telling them why you no longer shop there -they may listen and respond!

Sofa, laptop, Amazon. Cheap. Why should I pay to park, have to rush round and then pay over the odds?
High Street? What High Street?

I agree the parking scheme is sh 1 t and does not help Lewes.

Perhaps there simply won't be high streets in the future as we know them. Is this a bad thing really? I never went into Clintons more than once. It was full of tasteless, overpriced cards and gift tat made in China. I'd rather make something myself or buy something handmade in the UK over the internet.
I would like to see more butchers, bakers, greengrocers though but at sensible prices.

Mrs 40 could well be right. With online shopping being so cheap, traditional High Streets wont exist. We therefore have to rethink the use of the High Street. Whether they should be used as residential or whether the public should reclaim them by having more pedestrian areas and pop-up shoops in empty retail units as well as art, design and other temporary uses. A lead could be taken from the Occupy movement and maybe locals should occupy empty units and establish them as temporary community uses. After all these units are only empty due to the greed of the landowner at wanting such a high rent in a time of economic decline precipatated by the ruling classes! High Streets should be for the benefit of the community not moneygrabbing landlords so as a community we should take these spaces back!

why don't we close off the precint and high street and bring in the tumbrils to execute the greedy landlords and ruling classes,no doubt overseen by you mr forks!!

Lewes has had a good run for the money so far. Other towns have lost their way a long time ago. But then do the English want the same shops in every single High Street in the land. Surely - that's bloody daft ! but its what has happened. Landlords have reduced the rents, but the Business Rates haven't changed, and in fact after 3 months empty (free) rates the Government now demand full rates for empty properties. (Business rates go direct to the Government, whereas Council Tax gets kept by the local councils.) So its not in the landlords interest to leave them empty !

One of the problems of this town is that the shops have been condensed into the lower area of the town.Western road has lost 50% of its shops in the last 25 years, st Anns Hill has lost 100%, the upper High St is now heading the same way, The council should never let a shop be turned into a dwelling unless it can easily be restored to a shop .IE the shop front must remain . Losing a shop to housing should be the very last resort...Clffe high st is not a shopping area its a pretty walk, I bet if you did a survey at each end of the area so see who bought things there it would be very low indeed, sitting having a coffee or meal does not count, I`m talking things you take home ....

Spot on - LDC don't get a penny of the business rates paid. It all goes to central government. Now that might go some way to explaining their attitude towards parking in Lewes. LDC gets nothing from business ergo why protect the High Street from the parking scheme. They don't understand business and they don't care either.

It's not LDC which runs the parking scheme though, is it? It's ESCC, surely?

Correct

Interesting opinions.
Personally, I blame the supermarkets for forcing retailers out of business as they are becoming nothing short of department stores.
I'm going to do my bit and boycott the big supermarkets (Tesco's, ASDA etc)

Thanks for doing that Awesome. At least I'll be able to park easier in the free Tesco car park now. Yippee

Lewes has some excellent bookshops, but I suspect most of their business is now done via the internet with buyers around the world who would not otherwise have access to their wares. Lewes has an excellent library, as does the Sussex Archeological Society, but if it's a work I want to keep, something like the whole of Holinshed, I can download it from Google's Advanced Book Research, Guttenberg, or whatever. I can order other needed books from Amazon or E-Bay in middle of night, often for peanuts and with delivery to my door in day or two. I can't afford to be loyal to traditional bookshops but I wish them well. When world's in state of flux, one must fluck with it. Alternative is necrophilia.

Southover Queen: LDC sit on the joint parking board so they do have a big say in it and they do control the car parks (except the NCP one at the bottom of thetown)The County do seem to impose it though: No scheme is "forced" on Tory Controlled Wealden, yet if it is a county wide schme it should apply to all. Take a look, it seems to be only impose don Lib Dem controlled Districts. And please note I am not a Lib Dem sympathiser.

Clintons recently had the administrators in and all their stores are in danger of closing so not all LDCs fault. More likely it's places online like Moonpig offering modern options and Clintons only supplying tat to people with no imagination

Apparently, Stead & Simpson have to cough up £72 000 in business rates every year; as do similar shops in that area. This would be in addition to rent and other overheads. No wonder these shops are closing.