Dawsons closure latest setback for town centre
STOPS SERVING
Dawsons music shop is due to close, while staff at the Yorkshire Linen Company have not been given a date for their store’s closure MUSIC shop Dawsons is to close its Huddersfield town centre store after bosses decided it was no longer viable.
Dawsons, which sells everything from guitars to pianos, has confirmed it is due to close its Market Street store, although a closure date has yet to be fixed.
Some staff have opted for redundancy and others would be redeployed, said a spokesman.
Customers have expressed disappointment at the news.
Glenn Matthews, a part-time musician from Denby Dale, said: “I visit every week and have bought five different guitars and a violin from here. It’s going to be missed.”
Glenn, who has shopped at the store since it was Woods in the 1980s, said he feared for the future of Huddersfield town centre.
“I’ve just walked around (the town centre) – it’s starting to look like Dewsbury,” he said.
Dawsons currently has a sale on and a sign in the window says: “Dawsons Music Huddersfield has now been placed into store closure and we wish to inform customers, as a consequence of this, prices may differ to other Dawsons stores and also the website.”
Meanwhile, staff at town centre store the Yorkshire Linen Company are in limbo after they were told the store was due to close, although they haven’t been given a date.
‘Closing down’ signs have appeared in the Victoria Lane store’s windows but no-one at the company’s head office was avail- able to comment.
Customers of the New Street Diner & Coffee Lounge have also had to go elsewhere after the cafe closed its doors. All the fixtures and fittings have been removed from the town centre cafe.
The cafe was formerly the Four Cousins and was re-opened last year after a major revamp by John Whitaker.
The Four Cousins traded for
I’ve just walked around the town centre. It’s starting to to look like
Dewsbury.
over 40 years and was originally opened by Clem Iasonides who came to Huddersfield from Cyprus.
The cafe was later taken over by Abdul Karim who put it up for sale after just eight months at the helm.
Renewed concerns about shop closures follow the decision by Marks and Spencer to close its town centre store on May 4.
The decision, revealed in January, sent shockwaves through the town’s traders, politicians and shoppers.
Kirklees Council is currently working on a masterplan for the town centre which it is hoped will revitalise it and looks at how it can thrive aside from purely retail.