A Deli will be opening on Bath Street. The new proprietor is already well-known for catering to corporate events and parties.
I hear that the sale of the ex-Prices Stationers has progressed.
The ex Nursery Shop on Market Place is under offer.
A Deli will be opening on Bath Street. The new proprietor is already well-known for catering to corporate events and parties.
I hear that the sale of the ex-Prices Stationers has progressed.
The ex Nursery Shop on Market Place is under offer.
It would be nice if we saw progress on the Upper Reaches hotel instead of it being left to fall into disrepair.
I agree Steve 2, who are the lease holders, can us townsfolk put some pressure on them directly?
I thought the Vale of the White Horse District Council are the leaseholders of the Upper Reaches. The Vale did a disservice to South Abingdon by allowing one man to buy the lease of the shops in Reynolds way. He promply evicted the shop owners at the end of their leases so that we lost a post office and chip shop. These premises are now vacant and an eyesore, plus the residents of South Abingdon have lost out. The Vale has a lot to answer for. The best interests of Abingdon are certainly not the Vale’s first concern.
There is no evidence to suggest he evicted the post office – McColls had planned these closures in 2020 and the store in Northcourt Road and on Peachcroft have also gone – neither of which were anything to do with the owner of the Reynolds Supermarket or the Vale Council.
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/02/mccolls-close-300-stores/
I’m sure in the coming weeks you will be merrily voting Tory in the local elections in some misguided belief that them returning to run Vale council will save Abingdon? I think you will be in for a nasty shock.
Do you have any insight as to WHO might save Abingdon?
I spoke to the people who had the post office and this is what they told me before they had to shut up shop.
The Upper Reaches leaseholder is Contemporary Hotels Ltd (CHL). They have about another 70 years to run on the lease, so they will be hard to shift. They have no interest (apart from a financial one) in the site and, apparently, no interest at all in the town.
The Vale of the White Horse is the freeholder; but, having sold a long lease to CHL, there doesn’t seem much that they can do. If someone (who?) were to make CHL an irresistible financial offer, the situation might change. Otherwise, we are stuffed.
One lesson we might learn is the one Harold McMillan offered: “Don’t sell the family silver!” Very patrician, but very percipient.
PPJS
many thanks for your info. I would have thought that in any lease there would be conditions placed on the leaseholder which if they weren’t met the freeholder could evict/end the lease. Maybe the Vale didn’t include such clauses.
More info on the Upper Reaches site:
https://abingdoncivicsociety.org.uk/conservation/upper-reaches-hotel/
It’s good to know that some dialogue is taking place.
Hmmm … yet another example of Democracy Inaction from the VWHDC I fear, Mark.