Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Tumble weed said:
The people I spoke to at the time when it changed from a restaurant said they would have went or at least tried it as a fish restaurant but would never order over priced fish and chips from there.

Myself included, I mean I was all for trying it out till it became a fish and chip shop, I mean you wouldn’t even dine in for that, so yeah, completely floored model, n the guy running it should have kept it as a restaurant.
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We tried to get in for the fish restaurant, was told a minimum of a week in advance to get a table. Then it closed the following week!
 
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Gareth

Well-Known Forumite
I agree. After their grand opening as a fish restaurant the place was full every night I walked past for those 2 weeks or so. Then it closed after a chef left and quickly turned into a fish chip shop and left some people annoyed who booked and turned up not knowing it had changed.

Already a confused model from the outset regardless of the owners comment that fish and chips was what they knew.

The fish and chips were nice but it was still fish and chips which people tend to take away and not eat in.

They spent a fortune on the place as well. Should have kept it as it started out. All very odd.
 
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Tumble weed

Well-Known Forumite
I'm sure when they opened, the guy said, he never wanted to open it as a fish restaurant, and only ever wanted a fish and chip takeaway place, the whole set up was a mistake from the beginning tbh.
 
staffordjas

staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
markpa12003 said:
Off the Hook has closed down. Its been announced on fb.
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I never went in, but had quite a few phone calls off them trying to locate my house , as the address they were were given by the phantom take-away orderer didn't exist. They , like other establishments. must have had so much wasted food and delivery drivers time because of the prat.
 
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markpa12003

Well-Known Forumite
I had a couple of take away meals from here and dined in too. Its a shame that its closed down, however i agree with the comments above it should have stayed as a fish restaurant.
 
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Gareth

Well-Known Forumite
There are some interesting windows in some premises in stafford.

The old bella italia had a couple of stain glass windows uncovered when they stripped back the plaster etc that were in the side walls.

Unfortunately now you cannot look in to see as the entrance windows have been covered.with that window lean type stuff

Hidden gens
 
Cue

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
Something I have established about property which really doesn't help: The rateable values on even relatively small suites of a building are atrociously high. £19,500 per annum rent, but an extra £11,200 in business rates to pay on a mere 200sqm of space. It's an absolute joke, I've seen entire units in the tech park with lower rates than that. This is on Weston Road too.

No wonder so many businesses are having to close shop, when business rates add more than 50% on top of the rent.
 
Cue

Cue

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
In extreme cases rates can be more than the rent, and you don't even get your bins emptied it's literally a tax for daring to open a business!
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Yeah, and the way business rates work doesn't really help either.

£12,000? Oh you don't have to pay anything.
£13,000? Enjoy your £6,000 annual bill!

Doesn't really help in my line of work either - I need so much empty space that I can't put desks, storage, etc in.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Cue said:
Yeah, and the way business rates work doesn't really help either.

£12,000? Oh you don't have to pay anything.
£13,000? Enjoy your £6,000 annual bill!

Doesn't really help in my line of work either - I need so much empty space that I can't put desks, storage, etc in.
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A lot depends on the type of space. Where my OH is moving into about 90% of the rates are based on the downstairs with the upstairs hardly mattering.
 
Really?

Really?

Well-Known Forumite
tek-monkey said:
A lot depends on the type of space. Where my OH is moving into about 90% of the rates are based on the downstairs with the upstairs hardly mattering.
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Which is why most new Tesco' s and Asda's have a "ground floor" parking space and a first floor shop - Rates are cheaper on the first floor. This novel move to reduce Business Rates bills was first used by TX Maxx many years ago - most of their old shops are up escalators. It saved them millions in Business Rates when they were getting established. Another old way to reduce the cost was to block in windows or put giant graphics on them so they no longer acted as windows as the rates are calculated so that the highest rates are paid on space closest to windows (Zone A)
 
Withnail

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Really? said:
Another old way to reduce the cost was to block in windows or put giant graphics on them ...
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Blimey, Window Tax still operative?

6p7xau.jpg


Got quite an history.
 
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Tumble weed

Well-Known Forumite
The Toys R Us store in Stafford has been ear marked for immediate disposal so if anyone’s after a toy bargain, head there as I’ve heard the discounting is to start pretty high.
 
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Tumble weed

Well-Known Forumite
Reports seem to suggest that the wind up process will be quick, with all their stores potentially closing by the 11th March, and the Stafford store within days.
 
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Gareth

Well-Known Forumite
Ironically the Stafford temp store was due to close in March anyway.

Sad for the rest in the uk though
 
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