NEWS
Closure of Bolton deli lays bare perils of failed regeneration schemes By Andrew Don
The closure of a Bolton delicatessen in September serves as a cautionary tale of how businesses can fall foul of delayed regeneration schemes. While it has suffered three burglaries in the last year, The Deli at Farnworth told FFD it was delays to redevelopmentof the town’s Market Precinct, owned by St Modwen, that forced it to close in September. “The break-ins were the final straw but it’s all to do with St Modwen,” said manager Sam Westall, son of the deli’s co-owner Stephen Westall. Regeneration specialist St Modwen bought The Market Precinct in April 2011 for £4m. Located between the town’s open market and bus station, the site included 21 units let to a range of national and local retailers. Westall said St Modwen was supposed to regenerate the area but had only just moved traders from the old
‘kiosks’ in which they traded in the past few months. He said the kiosks were blocking the shops they had been moved into, deterring potential customers. “They were going to put in a popup market but changed their minds as regeneration has fallen through,” he said. “There are only two traders left – the other is a pet shop. All the others have closed down. There’s nothing here anymore. Since they took the market away everything’s dying.” Jonathan Livesey, senior property manager for St Modwen, said the £290m turnover company had recently removed the kiosks as part of its ongoing strategy for Farnworth. “Unfortunately, due to undocumented utilities connections, we had to delay the demolition of the precinct for these additional services to be disconnected and made safe once we discovered they were running to the kiosks.
IN BRIEF Conker Spirit returned from the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition with two medals. Its Dorset Dry Gin was awarded gold while Conker Cold Brew took bronze. A scientific study claims to have discovered why we love or hate Marmite. Marmite worked with genetic testing centre DNAFit to conduct a clinical trial and found people are born genetically predisposed to be like or loathe the savoury spread.
The Bolton retailer confirmed its closure on its Facebook page
“We are sorry that the owner of The Deli has taken the decision to close.” Livesey said St Modwen remained “committed to the town”. A spokeswoman for
Bolton Council said she was aware St Modwen had come across issues with the site that were outside its control but it had reassured the council it was committed to regeneration.
The first Food & Drink Business Improvement Development (BID) group, in East Lothian, is toasting its success after the opening of two new manufacturing units (NB Gin’s distillery and Chocolate Tree’s factory) and the expansion of Bellhaven Smoke House, all within a year.
ACS report: food specialists are the ‘most wanted’ Specialist food shops continue to be the most wanted service on the high street – for the third consecutive year – according to the 2017 edition of the Local Shop Report. Published by small shops group the Association of Convenience Stores, the report put specialist food shops ahead of banks and non-food shops in second and third place respectively. Small food retailers are also having an increasingly positive impact on their local area, the report found, and they ranked in third place behind post offices and convenience stores. This put them 14
ahead of pharmacies, coffee shops and cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars, banks, non-food outlets, petrol stations, fast-food outlets and charity shops. Close proximity to where customers live and work were the most important drivers to stores, the report said, followed by friendly and helpful staff, a desire to support the local store and long opening hours. It also reported that 79% of independent retailers engaged in some form of community activity in the past year: 74% collected money for charity, 21% supported a community event and 15% sponsored a local sports team or other community activity.
October-November 2017 | Vol.18 Issue 9
Outdoor ready-meals win Seed Fund’s top prize FIREPOT by Outdoorfood will benefit from a full year of business support, branding and mentoring from industry experts after being named The Seed Fund’s 2017 winner. Developed to be an upgrade on the taste and nutritional qualities of other expedition foods, the Dorset start-up’s range
of backpack-friendly meals – including chilli con carne, dal and risotto – can be prepared almost anywhere. FIREPOT’s owner John Fisher collected his prize at the Great Taste Golden Fork Award Dinner on 4th September, marking the end to the first year of partnership between The
Seed Fund’s creators, The Collaborators, and Great Taste. The winner was chosen from a dozen businesses who pitched for and participated over the summer in this year’s Seed Fund Academy, a series of mentoring sessions for selected start-ups. theseedfund.co.uk