City centre businesses facing eviction given more time to prepare
TRADERS CAN STAY IN PREMISES FOR LONGER BEFORE WORK STARTS ON CITY CENTRE SOUTH PROJECT
BUSINESS owners say they will have more time to make crucial plans for the future after their eviction deadline was put back by four months.
Traders in City Arcade and Bull Yard were due to shut by the end of January 2023 to make way for construction of the huge City Centre South project.
But businesses have now been told of an extension to May 31, 2023, that could make all the difference. Coventry City Council has said it is helping businesses relocate.
Coffee Tots, a community cafe based in City Arcade, said the extension will allow them to keep helping ‘some of the most vulnerable families in Coventry.’ Employee Ann Mccabe said they will also be able to ‘plan for our shortterm future.’
Ms Mccabe said: “We’re really worried about our families and concerned a lot of them won’t have access to a hot meal.” She added that efforts to relocate the charity had been ‘put on hold’ due to rising energy costs.
Alan Denyer, who runs LTB Showrooms near the Bull Yard, says the extension will allow him to plan ahead. Mr Denyer, who runs an arts venue above The Litten Tree, said in the remaining 240 days he would continue “helping hundreds and hundreds of people with free wall space and setting up workshops and film screenings.”
“I will be having various conversations with stakeholders, the council and private landowners just to see what the possibilities are out there,” Mr Denayer told the BBC. “I feel obligated to the people that we serve.
“It’s not just about me and finding a new space for what I enjoy. There’s a lot of people out there that really rely on these kind of safe spaces.”
Others, however, say they will be unable to afford premises elsewhere in the city centre.
Manager of Busy Fingers, Jonathan Wilson, previously admitted it is ‘not feasible’ to relocate when the City Arcade is demolished as rents were too high elsewhere.
He previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Everywhere we’ve looked at is three to four times the rent. The shop’s doing okay, but it’s just not feasible.”
Plans to knock down City Arcade and other city centre buildings for housing, a hotel and retail, were approved in April 2021.
Councillor Jim O’boyle previously described the scheme as a ‘huge opportunity’ for Coventry, creating jobs and homes and attracting new businesses to the city.