Reply to THIS thread
Start a NEW Talkback Thread
Talkback Home

Empty shop premises in our village. - paul (6th Jul 2013 - 15:06:50) Hi, As there are so many future plans for development in Liphook are there any ideas for present empty shop units? Many have been closed for a long time. Pop-up shops, or a community shop could work. Maybe a working group, with landlords, could be formed to rejuvenate the look and use of our retail facilities.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Ian (6th Jul 2013 - 16:19:14) The reason the are so many empty shops is because they can not carry out enough business in the village as most people go out the village to spend their money, wouldn't it be nice if we again had a butchers, green grocers, a deli etc like we used to have.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Glenys (6th Jul 2013 - 16:25:14) Hallo, I believe that Im right in saying that what was the carpet shop in New Town is going to be a vets clinic, thats a positive start. Glenys

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Becks (6th Jul 2013 - 22:22:57) I could not agree more with the comment that it would be lovely to have a butcher's or greengrocers back in the village again. I have lived/worked in the village all my life and am so sad to see the empty premises. Fingers crossed they're occupied soon

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - JG (7th Jul 2013 - 07:21:58) Not getting at anyone here but increasingly I am seeing hello spelt hallo, Why?

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Mrs G (7th Jul 2013 - 21:49:26) Pop-Up shops are an amazing idea. They give small businesses, of which i'm sure there are many, the chance to show their products for nominal rent and at least get some return for the landlords and increase the interest for people spending money in our village.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Si (8th Jul 2013 - 10:09:45) There's been a few schemes around the country I've seen featured on local news / press etc where high streets have been rejuvenated by the local community in various ways. Might be worth a quick Google for some pointers?

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - ellie (8th Jul 2013 - 11:43:14) A lot of the reason that we have empty shops is the insurance cover. Insurance companies refuse to insure commercial buildings unless either empty or with a long term tenant, so anyone who wants less than a ten year full repairing lease is not considered. There may be exceptions obviously as that is why there are so many charity shops.Most small retailers will not want to be in direct competion with Sainsburys, and if it is a specialist shop then even Haslemere is struggling with shops closing at the moment.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Sarah (8th Jul 2013 - 14:59:30) I have been thinking about this a lot recently also, I actually enquired about the old carpet baggers, but it was only available to purchase as a freehold. It seems crazy that landlords would rather have no rent then some rent.... Although I take the point about insurance. A pop up shop run by the community for the community would be fantastic. It would also be great for the school leavers to be involved, helping them to become more employable?! Let\'s get some ideas flowing? Also re: Hallo.... Perhaps it\'s auto correct?!

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - JG2 (9th Jul 2013 - 14:31:07) As a local insurance broker specialising in property owners insurance, I disagree with Ellie's point about insurance. I have never seen a requirement for tenants to hold a ten-year lease. Insurers much prefer premises to be occupied - unoccupied buildings are more difficult to insure and are subject to greater incidence of malicious damage, water damage, squatters etc. Insurance bashing is not the answer here. Many villages do support excellent butchers and greengrocers - Loxwood, for example. I believe there is a butcher in Wey Hill, a stone's throw from Tescos. What are the rents like in Liphook?

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - JG2 (9th Jul 2013 - 14:53:06) I've just remembered The Meat & Fish Market in Milford - I would guess that Milford is a similar size to Liphook. At Christmas people were queuing out on to the street. They employ several excellent staff. It is notable that all these shops have been trading a long time and built up a great reputation. I suspect that starting from scratch in a village as a butcher or greengrocer and breaking peoples' supermarket habit is quite a challenge. Perhaps a few more cafes and day-time meeting places in the village would draw people in to then shop here.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Sarah (9th Jul 2013 - 18:06:05) That is positive that it is not an insurance issue, it must be expensive rents then.... Like most people, I do mainly use sainsbury's but their fresh produce is terrible and do end up having to drive to Waitrose, maybe a pop up farm shop a la The Apprentice would work. While it cant compete with a supermarket for everyday groceries it would compete with their fresh food and deli. Just a thought!

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Marian (9th Jul 2013 - 18:50:11) We did have a branch of The Meat Market in the village - along Midhurst Road. This closed down as Sainsbury's opened.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Jo (9th Jul 2013 - 18:58:07) Paul, I'd be more than happy to be part of a community working group, have recent pop up experience too! John

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - paul (11th Jul 2013 - 13:12:42) Thanks for your input John of your experience. Maybe a first step is to identify suitable premises/location for a pop-up or community shop in Liphook.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - sarah (12th Jul 2013 - 18:03:17) Count me in too. I think station road will be best as you can park outside and makes it easier for people... carpet baggers is vacant and a bit of a state inside but nothing that can be fixed up a few pairs of hands.(Not sure if they will give it up as a temporary pop up shop though?) As I type, a meridian news bulletin just game up about independent shops taking on the chains and winning! Its a sign!!

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Paul E (13th Jul 2013 - 09:17:59) When we came to Liphook in 1964 there were 3 butchers - one where PRC now is, one in the Midhurst Road and one in the Portsmouth Road - and three greengrocers. The only complaint is way back when we first popped into the Royal Anchor for a drink we were asked to drink up and leave as they didn't want 'locals' in there if they weren't dining!

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - H (13th Jul 2013 - 11:57:19) The first thing is to surely ask the owners of the empty properties whether they will grant temporary permissions? if they are hoping to sell as freeholds then surely it would be a disadvantage to a buyer to have a tenant in situ without an enforceable lease?

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - paul (14th Jul 2013 - 10:11:11) Hi Sarah, The agent on the board of the former carpetbaggers shop is no longer selling the property. Maybe the status has changed?

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - S (14th Jul 2013 - 11:44:34) As Glenys mentioned earlier in the thread, the old Carpetbaggers is to become a veterinary surgery.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - paul (17th Jul 2013 - 22:36:04) Hi, Before this thread falls off the front page of Talkback may I suggest is it possible to contact every landlord/owner of empty premises in our village if a community shop is viable? One success could promote other shops to open.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Sarah (19th Jul 2013 - 22:40:29) I will get on the case of trying to find out if it is available. When I was looking into it on google, a very similar thread to this came up from 6 years ago! What about the old brand exchange shop on Midhurst Road...? I heard the lady who owns it works in the hairdressers, maybe she would be interested in getting involved? It could work if carpet baggers has been sold/let already. Will see what I can find and report back. Let's get this show on the road!

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Basil Briolas (24th Jul 2013 - 20:40:38) Hi I am interested in the ideas for Liphook. I have had a few businesses in the past in various other countries, but as a new comer to the UK..it seems complicated!? Please email me with more information. Kind Regards Basil briolas.basil@yahoo.co.uk

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Barry (25th Jul 2013 - 12:58:58) For the 10 years i lived in Liphook the building very near Hiscocks has been boarded up and I have never been able to get a reason why this is the case?

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Katy (25th Jul 2013 - 15:25:28) I believe the boarded up eyesore next to Hiscocks is/was owned by a vet from Midhurst who also has rented properties and stores spare furniture in there. Shame he can't tidy it up but I guess he doesn't live here and have to look at it every day! I did enquire at EHDC years ago and there is/was apparently planning permission to convert it. As such it can stay in that state of dis-repair for as long as the owner wants as they are supposedly in the prcoess of "converting" it! Hope I am wrong about this now but that was certainly the case then.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Interested Shopkeeper (13th Oct 2014 - 21:48:12) I stumbled across this old thread and apologise in advance for dragging it up, but did anything ever come of the idea of having pop up stores in Liphook? It sounds brilliant.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Helen (13th Oct 2014 - 22:34:15) That empty eyesore of a building next door to Hiscocks has been like that for as long as the 25 years that I have lived there. Don't think it will ever change. The back area is no better either all over grown !!

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Tanya Wilkinson (17th Oct 2014 - 15:42:15) I am the manager of Liphook Care charity shop, another reason so many premises are empty is the rents are too high. I know our landlord is trying to increase our rent. If it does go up to much, we would no longer be viable, and therefore unable to help the community. On another note, we are always looking for volunteers, which considering the amount of unemployed I find hard to understand, do they not realise, by volunteering they can gain valuable experience that employers are looking for along with references, and it shows prospective employers that they are willing to work and not just sit around doing nothing.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - bdavies (17th Oct 2014 - 16:21:49) Tanya, your post highlights exactly the reason why shops become and remain empty. I do not understand why landlords insist on squeezing the last drop of income from premises only to find that their source of income suddenly dries up when tenants disappear. It's a shame that no single authority can intervene to stop this to prevent closure and the resulting loss to the community that results. Surely smaller profits are better than none at all, especially in Liphook where there are a lot of empty premises meaning that supply is outstripping demand.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - ellie (17th Oct 2014 - 22:02:58) I thought that also the charity shops usually were given reduced rentals? I agree in general they are too high as people also have to pay business rates and insurance on the premises. That may be different depending on classes of use etc and facilities and size of premises, but the only way you could have a pop up shop is without a long lease, and landlords do not like short term lets on shops I do not think.

Re: Empty shop premises in our village. - Tanya Wilkinson (18th Oct 2014 - 13:22:22) Ellie, we do NOT get our rent at reduced price in the charity shop, we actually pay the same as other businesses in Station rd, yes we get a little relief on business rates being a charity, but our insurance is also the same as other businesses too.

Reply to THIS thread
Talkback Home