Council pays billionaire Ashley £125k to open store
MIKE ASHLEY’S fashion chain Flannels has been handed £125,000 by a local council amid fears that an outlet it bought would remain empty for years.
Doncaster Council agreed the payment to Flannels’ parent group Sports Direct over the ‘derelict’ site, formerly a Walkabout pub.
Renovation had already begun on the town centre outlet but work had halted, rendering it unusable and not liable to pay rates like neighbouring shops.
The billionaire’s aides had seemed in no rush to open it, telling planning officers it might stay empty for three years or more until they conducted a ‘property review’. Documents show the council also feared Sports Direct might put a discount store in its place.
After accepting the offer, Flannels, which sells Gucci, Jimmy Choo and Moncler, opened in October.
Details of the payment, which will be spread over two years as a discount to business rates, are still being finalised. It comes from a £2.5million business incentive scheme set up to boost the town. No other retailer has been paid from the fund, the council said.
Ashley has savaged the Chancellor’s plan to help the high street. But he told a parliamentary committee last week: ‘I totally accept councils can’t afford to just be writing cheques to help shopfits in town centres.’ Flannels’ sales rose 76 per cent to £62million last year and losses reversed to a £5 million profit.
The council said: ‘The grant was to regenerate an area of the town centre by bringing in a high-class, well-respected retail outlet which would raise footfall.’
Property adviser Altus Group said targeted rates cuts could boost areas with ‘unique challenges’.