Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Sobering stat is Ghost of Christmas presents
Advertiser discovers 80 prime sites lie empty in Airdrie and Coatbridge
Shoppers have a big problem – with days left to buy gifts for loved ones, scores of our town centre shops lie empty.
To illustrate this stark statistic the Advertiser has compiled a montage of the empty 80 and issued an ultimatum to those in power – is anything being done to stop the rot?
Or will the empty 80 soon become the uninhabited 100?
Emotional local business owners have hit out at the council for turning “dying” Airdrie and Coatbridge town centres into “ghost towns”.
An investigation carried out by the Advertiser has revealed that 80 primelocation premises across both town centres are lying dormant.
The once- thriving high streets are now a picture of empty, barricaded, rundown store-fronts that tell a depressing story of what they used to be.
A quarter of the premises on Airdrie’s bustling South Bridge Street are shut and shoppers on Coatbridge Main Street are met with the dispiriting sight of one-inthree stores permanently closed.
Heading “up the street” or “into town” has quickly become a challenging experience for members of the community and beyond.
The dedicated men and women running shops in Airdrie and Coatbridge have issued a rallying cry for help in keeping their businesses afloat – and attracting more customers and firms to both town centres.
Ann-Marie Swan, who has run Ann Marie’s unisex hair salon in Airdrie for four years, said: “The council should bring rent down to get businesses in and then people back in.
“The town centre is just in a bad state – it’s like a ghost town.”
Owner of Airdrie Card Shop, Tom Wallace, said: “Local businesses are seriously affected by the lack of footfall in the town centre.
“There’s no attraction to opening a business in the town centre.
“The council don’t help as they license an outdoor market on Wednesdays but all struggling shops have to carry on paying rent.”
Barbara Gallacher, owner of Barbara’s Barbers in Airdrie, said: “There are too many barbers – there must be about 10 in Airdrie town centre. The council shouldn’t allow it.
“My business has been affected horrendously. It was fine until they all started opening up.
“It’s not fair as I’ve worked hard and owned this business for nine years.”
Passionate pensioner May Mullen opened her Occasions flower shop in Coatbridge town centre back in 1985 and is “disgusted with the current mess of the town centre”.
May, 69, added: “The council need to encourage local businesses as the town centre is dying.
“Woolworths used to be right across the road from us and we need that building filled – it’s been barren for years.
“Everyone goes to the Faraday [retail park] or Glasgow as they have better retailers – but something needs done to our own town centre.”
Hugh Black, of Hugh Black and Sons bakery in Coatbridge, highlighted another problem, saying: “Car parking is a bit of an issue. We’re lucky as we’re right in the centre, but if in the town centre people can’t park next to the shops, they’ll drive somewhere they can.”
The manager of Coatbridge’s Vogue clothes shop, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The rent rates are far too high and that’s why businesses, especially the smaller ones, don’t last.
“We’ve been here for 20 years and our regular customers are very important to us.
“The town centre needs bigger retailers but then they would probably take away from our business and any passing trade, so it’s almost like a losing battle.”
But Airdrie and Coatbridge town centres are not beyond saving, with local political heavyweights giving their commitment to improving the situation.
Coatbridge MSP Fulton MacGregor said: “This is a major issue for Coatbridge and has been for some time.
“I am committed to doing everything I can to support businesses who want to set up in the town centre.
“I know that an SNP-run council after May will, at the earliest opportunity, overhaul the current rental rates to incentivise businesses to open in our town centres, taking action in an area where Labour have failed for more than two decades.”
Alex Neil, MSP for Airdrie, said: “The urgent need is for a radical change in business rates to make the values of business properties more realistic to reflect the depressed state of the market and for the council to use its new powers to reduce business rates in town centres.”
Media Scotland is also getting behind efforts to get more consumers into Airdrie and Coatbridge town centres as part of its recently launched Shop Local campaign.
The need to improve both town centres has never been more obvious. So the combined support from council chiefs, political decision- makers, business owners and, most importantly, shoppers, is essential to usher in a new era for Airdrie and Coatbridge.