Newark businesses have their say on whether or not the highstreet is dying with cost of living crisis
Independent retailers are urging shoppers to see all that Newark has to offer to help save the high street.
A year into the current cost of living crisis, Newark businesses reflect on the struggles they face and what can be done to safeguard the high street through troubled times.
When war broke out in Ukraine just over a year ago fuel costs sky-rocketed, worsening the cost of living crisis and increasing the difficulties that businesses faced coming out of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Advertiser spoke to independent businesses owners in Newark to see how they are managing.
The owner of Mad Hatters café, on Appletongate, Claire Fordon, said: “The town centre is dying. The economy at the moment is shot. It’s one of those scary situations where you just think to yourself, how much longer can this keep going?
“I’ve lived in Newark all my life and you walk around and see the amount of shops closed. Yet at one time there used to be a hustle and a bustle.
“Now you walk into the Market Place and there will see maybe six stalls, but when I was a little girl it used to be the main hub of the town."
Claire continued, saying: “The fact that rents and rates are so high stops people from even contemplating opening a business and the fact that so many shops are shut, there is nothing to draw the people to Newark.
“If the rates were a lot less it would attract people to set up the quirky little shops, which in turn attracts more customers. But it means that we end up seeing again another phone shop, another charity shop, another coffee shop and that’s not what the town needs.
“We’ve lost our M&S, we’ve lost our Monsoon, we’ve lost our Dorothy Perkins. We used to be a thriving, historical town, to see it so desolate now is such a shame.
“Our food costs have increased dramatically. When we first started the coffee we bought in was £72, now it’s £96. For 2kg of cheese, it has gone from £10 to £15. The biscuits that we buy in have doubled from £7 to £15.
“It’s finding that happy medium between what our costs are and what people are willing to pay for things. At the end of the day, I still need to make a living.”
“It’s been extremely difficult and without knowing what the how the economy could change in the foreseeable future, there’s a knock on effect for everybody and we can’t guarantee that in six months we will still be here.”
Cartergate business Simply Sweet’s owner James Singer said: “It’s tough being a small business as everything has gone up in price — it’s a lot more expensive just to turn the lights on and everyone has less money to spend and they’re being more careful.
“But if you give the customers what they want, they are more likely to come to you, rather than just giving them a generic offering.
“Our costs have gone up but most people are generally understanding if a product has to go up a few pence and I can’t say we have seen less customers coming through the door.
“The biggest issue is with manufacturing and not getting the same stock in, but you can adapt and as long as you are honest with customers, that is the most important thing.
“Market days definitely don’t seem to be as busy as they used to be, but I think that is still a hangover from lockdown where people were conditioned to ordering online and that has stuck with a lot of people.
“I’ve been here 20 years and I think Newark has pretty much everything you could want but people don’t necessarily see what’s on their doorstep, they only see the gaps.
“We’ve probably got fewer empty shops than most major towns and cities but we could always do with a few more high street names to draw people in to the town centre.
“People say the high street is dying. The high street is not dying, it’s just people are choosing where they shop better and some businesses need to realise that.”
Andrew Hind, owner of Sibley’s Butchers on Kirkgate, said: “Everything has gone up, from gas and electric to wages. That’s the one thing that people don’t seem to realise is the overheads as well as the prices they see.
“Lamb prices have stayed high for a long time, normally they do dip. Pork prices have risen when sometimes they only rise once a year, but in the last year they have risen four times.
“Early in the week we see less footfall, but weekends have always been busy.
“One of the main problems stopping people coming into town is parking. We need to find more short-term parking. It would mean people could come in, visit the market, pop into a few shops and leave more easily and if the council asked retailers they’d know this.
“We do our utmost to try and attract people into town and since Christmas we have seen a lot more new faces coming back.
“Perhaps we’re dragging them out of the supermarkets which are predominantly self service tills, whereas we like to be face to face with the customer.
“We can also do individual packages based on what the customer needs, they don’t need to come in and buy a certain amount. Whatever they want, we can get, that’s why we’re still trading.”
Owner of Grain @No1 on Castlegate, Tamara Taylor, said: “I still feel optimistic because we still have new customer coming through the door every day.
“What I have noticed is that people are being more careful. They are holding back on a purchase, taking longer to decide and tend to be purchasing more useful items of furniture rather than purely decorative ones.
“What has made a difference to me is the behind the scenes costs. My rates have doubled and my overheads, like the electricity have gone up from £500 a month to £1,500 a month.
“I do find sometimes the powers-that-be can not be very helpful. For me there is a disconnect between the district council and businesses.
“ I’m sure there is help out there but the communication hasn’t been very good.
“Newark is a perfect place for people to meet, we had a couple come in, one from the north and one from the south and they met halfway in Newark. They were absolutely bowled over by how amazing it was and full of independents.
“You only get positivity like that because of independent retailers, but if we don’t get the support where support is needed we won’t be here.”
Newark and Sherwood District Council says it is working with business owners to help build and develop their businesses in a bid to maintain a healthy and diverse high street.
The Business Growth and Resilience Programme was created to support the growth and security of the local economy by offering business owners a series of tailored sessions, including one-to-one mentoring, reviews of business models, training opportunities, and funding to expand their businesses.
Businesses that have benefitted from this programme include Beanblock, a family-friendly play café based in St Mark’s Place co-founded by mums Cate Martin and Aliki Allen, where funding was put towards installing new toilets and extending the cafe’s play area
Aliki said: “As parents ourselves, we know how taking our children out for food can be very stressful. What if my toddler has a meltdown? Can I get my pushchair into the venue? Will my kids get bored?
“We want to give parents somewhere to relax and enjoy being with their family in a supportive space. The funding and advice we received from the programme has meant that we can grow this important environment for parents and their children.”
Another high street name that has benefitted from the programme is Village Chic, an interiors business on Castlegate which offers fine French furniture, household accessories and paints.
Lucretia Henry, owner of Village Chic said the programme helped her to identify and exploit new markets for her business across the UK.
As a result, she is now developing her brand and introducing new product lines, including an exclusive clothing range and will hold invitation-only events in her store to promote new ranges.