People of Loughborough deserve more, we say
WE ARE closing our shop in Churchgate, Loughborough after trading for 23 years and talking to other independent traders, I don’t think that we will be the only one.
Obviously, times have changed and it is not news that the High Street is in decline, however, I feel there is a lot that Loughborough could do to help itself. As a store with daily deliveries and customers dropping off sewing machines, it is terrible that the Street Wardens leap on them giving out parking tickets. No shop can function without deliveries and our customers cannot carry their heavy machines from car parks.
The delivery drivers are doing their job, not stopping for a cuppa and a chat, but there still lacks a common sense approach.
Rent and business rates are very high and in our part of town, the properties are old, full of character but desperately in need of investment from the landlords. There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins which has led to business owners setting up their own internet group to share information. Car park charges are as expensive as going into Leicester, and Loughborough is no longer the market town it was, although it could be.
In our opinion, which comes from the many years we have been here, the people of Loughborough and surrounding villages deserve more.
There is a need to attract more independent traders, less charity shops and betting shops. There needs to be a reason for people to visit Loughborough to shop and wander, not just on Thursdays and Saturdays for the market. We have some lovely places to eat and drink, Queen’s Park is fabulous and most importantly, wonderful people working very hard in shops and businesses who love Loughborough.
It is with a heavy heart that we have chosen to leave. We are lucky and have maintained a thriving retail business surviving the pedestrianisation and through road, but if you cast your mind back, we have lost some lovely shops. We are re-locating to a village a couple of miles away and our business will carry on, thank goodness.
We will miss many of our customers and hope that they will follow us to East Leake.
It will be very sad if Loughborough continues to decline; recently, we have heard it being compared to Coalville as a shopping venue. The only way forward is for the council to actually listen to the shopkeepers and help constructively, not with posters in windows to disguise empty shops. We keep our fingers crossed for something positive to enhance the future for Loughborough town centre.