Ten Restaurants And Shops Close In High Street And North Street Within Three Months

Published on: 22 Jun, 2019
Updated on: 23 Jun, 2019

By Hugh Coakley

Ten restaurants and shops have closed in Guildford’s upper High Street and North Street in the last three months, with five closing in June 2019 alone.

Three empty retail units together now since Giraffe and Chilli Pickle closed this month. Maplins closed in June 2018.

Parts of the town are looking particularly desolate with several retail units in an area, or even in a row, becoming vacant.

Three adjacent units in upper High Street were dubbed the ‘Trio of Doom’ on Facebook after two restaurants, Giraffe and Chilli Pickle either side of the defunct Maplins, closed this month in quick succession.

‘Trio of Doom’ on Facebook. Giraffe and Chilli Pickle both closed in June 2019 while Maplins closed last year.

Six of the 10 businesses that have closed in the past three months are restaurants and food outlets including Chilli Pickle, Giraffe, Fresh Choices café, Burrito Loco, West Cornwall Pasty Co and Jamie’s Italian, all highlighting the pressure that the restaurant sector is facing.

Why have they closed? In general, people have the option to buy everything, from clothes to meals, online and this is cutting the number of customers going out to town centre shops. Further pressures include high rents and business rates which, even for a small shop unit in Guildford’s upper High Street, can be more than £1,000 per week.

The Cau restaurant closed suddenly nearly a year ago in July 2018. Like an abandoned Marie Celeste, the tables are all set for service that will now not happen.

‘Upwards only’ clauses in shop leases have meant that rents have been ratcheted upwards. While chains are using company voluntary agreements to force rent down, smaller businesses and independents cannot look forward to relief on their rent burden any time soon.

George Musgrave of Owen Shipp, the Guildford-based commercial property agency and consultancy, said: “The market for letting properties is cooler now but landlords are not ready yet to be talked down from their expectations on rent.”

Fresh Choices closed in March 2019 leaving three empty shops in a row after the post office moved to WHSmith in the High Street.

Guildford was bucking the trend though when it came to vacancy rates. Springboard, who provide retail data figures to Experience Guildford, showed an improving 5.8% of vacant shops in Guildford against a national average of 10.4% and 8.5% in the South East.

However, footfall has been declining nationally with a 3.5% year on year reduction recorded in May 2019. Locally, the picture has not been rosy either. Footfall has shown an alarming reduction each month, by between 2% and up to 23% in comparable months, for at least a year up to March 2019. No figures were provided for April 2019 and the May 2019 figures, which showed a surprising and significant 18% year to date increase, were said to be indicative only.

The Mexican cuisine chain, Burrito Loco next to the library, closed this month after, a source told The Dragon, that end-of-lease negotiations were unsuccessful.

Traders have called for a review of parking charges and restrictions to try to combat falling footfall in the town.

Cllr Caroline Reeves.

The leader of Guildford Borough Council, and lead councillor for sustainable transport, transformation and regeneration, economic development and governance, Caroline Reeves, said: “Although we can’t directly influence business rates or local market rentals, we work hard to create a positive town centre environment though investing in public spaces.

“Our parking fees are good value when compared to other large shopping centres in the area. We also held prices on parking last year except in York Road.

“Our parking strategy encourages long-stay workers, shoppers and visitors to use the popular park-and-rides schemes with electric buses and long-stay car parks to help reduce congestion. We have seen an increase in car park use as more people visit and stay longer in Guildford.

“We’re also investigating [parking] discounts for customers in some town centre shops and aim to expand our Green Permit scheme to encourage more electric cars.”

Cllr Tony Rooth

Cllr Tony Rooth, from Residents for Guildford and Villages, offered suggestions for improving footfall including a shuttle bus connection from the rail station, turning the derelict “Pop Up Village” site into short term parking, community meeting places in empty shops, charging points for cars and electric cycles, opening the Guildhall more to the public, displaying the council’s art collection to the public and improving the riverside along Bedford Wharf and Debenhams.

He said: “Guildford Borough Council need to activate, attract and reactivate our town centre

“Any major change takes time and money. R4GV wants to stimulate independent debate on how to change Guildford for the better.

“Ideas come from all people, not political parties.”

Cllr Susan Parker.

The leader of the Guildford Greenbelt Group, Susan Parker, said: “National economic conditions affect Guildford along with everywhere else.

“More changes in retail over the next few years are inevitable. I’d like to see us use some of the vacant developable land for low- to medium-rise housing, with a high proportion of social housing, rather than large retail stores, some of which will be hard to fill.”

The Labour group were asked for comments but had not responded at the time of publication. The Conservatives have said that they did not want to be contacted by The Guildford Dragon NEWS.

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