Butcher shuts up shop after 40 years
A popular Greenhills butchers has shut up shop after more than 40 years.
McCandlish Butchers closed its doors last Saturday, moving operations and staff to their base in Westwood.
Local councillors have previously raised concerns over the viability of the centre going forward.
Fresh plans for part of the shopping centre were finally lodged with South Lanarkshire Council earlier this year - on behalf of a on behalf of a Mr Z Ahmed - after a number of previous proposals from other parties failed to materialise.
Alex - whose dad (Alex snr) took over the Greenhills unit more than 40 years ago - said the shop was no longer sustainable after threatening to pull-out last year.
“We have sat for a year waiting for something to happen, but we weren’t any further forward,” he told the East
Kilbride News.
“It’s a question of how long would we have to wait for anything to happen or work to begin? How can we run a business with so much uncertainty?
“It’s just not possible to do that or plan ahead so, sadly, the only course of action left to us was to close the Greenhills shop for now.”
Alex said he can’t thank customers in the area enough for their support over the years but many of them have now started to go to Westwood.
He went on: “The good thing is we moved all our operations and staff over to Westwood so no one has lost their jobs and customers have already started going there.
“But there is no doubt it was a sad day last Saturday closing the Greenhills shop. We have been there so long and were part of the community.
“If and when Greenhills Square is refurbished we may look at returning, but we will just have to wait and see how things pan out.
“The shop needed money spent on it and no business can afford to invest a significant amount of money if they have no guarantee they will still be there in a year or two’s time.”
East Kilbride South Councillor Fiona Dryburgh said: “It is a sad loss to Greenhills Shopping Centre to lose McCandlish Butchers. It was beneficial for so many to have been able to buy locally and it will not be the same without them.”
Fellow Councillor Archie Buchanan said: “It’s very sad that we have now lost McCandlish Butchers from the shopping centre, who were well respected and produced quality products for this community for many, many years.
“We can only hope that a butcher takes one of the units to continue providing the services for this community.”