This is the state of the town centre on a mild Thursday at the end of 2011.
(Press on image for a bigger pdf version. Not a brilliant map and not to scale but it serves this yearly purpose.)
Key:
Green is a shop that was vacant at the start of the year which is now occupied.
Yellow means a change of ownership.
Red is a vacant shop premises that was occupied at the start of the year.
Change in 2007 ( 6 green, 5 yellow, 10 red ) – Net Loss 4
Change in 2008 ( 10 green, 8 yellow, 13 red ) – Net Loss 3
Change in 2009 ( 9 green, 6 yellow, 6 red ) – Net Gain 3
Change in 2010 ( 9 green, 6 yellow, 5 red ) – Net Gain 3
Change in 2011 ( 2 green, 8 yellow, 5 red ) – Net Loss 3
In 2011, there was the closure of Stroll In and the 90p shop who probably found competition with Poundland difficult. Thorntons also closed as part of a national rationalisation.
We said goodbye to Camino replaced by Bath Street Bistro, Salinas was replaced by the Lemon Grove, and Daddy’s Cafe was replaced by Zabb Thai.
Bucknell and Ballard were taken over by Davis Tate, and Abingdon Letting became Oxfordshire Estates.
Acreedo Tattoes moved from Ock Street to High Street. West End News moved and was renamed as Abingdon News Plus to make way for the imminent redevelopment of the Abbey Shopping Centre. And Property Weekly moved out of town soon after the launch of the Oxfordshire Guardian .
Azuri accesories closed. The Plough closed for a while then reopened refurbished as the Harp. And Newton Alexander closed for a while and was replaced by Utopia Boutique.
(I have not included the addition of the Christmas Shop as I assume it is temporary but have included Calendar Club which is more likely to carry on longer.)
You missed Lemon Plaice out – they closed just before Xmas.
that;s news to me – they had been around forever.
when a chip shop can’t make business work you have to wonder why.
Bit difficult to judge the bury street situation as most of vacancies are short lets pending the redevelopment scheduled to start in February.
Hopefully there will be some new arrivals as a result of this change. Must adnit to feeling very oditive about Abingdon going into the new year.
For oditive read positive – shouldnt have had a glass of wine before typing
The Lemon place was on a month by month lease because of the redevelopment, thats why they closed over night,
The Calendar Club is on Week by Week lease, so they will be gone by feb as well,
Seasons (or the Christmas Shop) is being run by one of the Garden Centres, although the name evades me at the moment, according to the man running it, its longevity depends on how busy they were as they had plans to change what the shop sold with the seasons, thus the name
Ha Noi Cafe on Stert Street closed as well, which was a huge loss as they did the best Chinese food I have ever had!!
The Nag’s Head
Let’s not blame everything on Poundland. Sometimes family businesses like Stroll In close and it has nothing to do with anything happening around them.
There is no back stabbing going on with the Oxfordshire Guardian either as it is owned by the same company as The Property Weekly and they both operate from the same new offices in Shippon.
Buckell and Ballard have not been a local Oxfordshire company for many years so this is not a great loss. They were sold yonks ago by Bradford and Bingley to Countrywide which is a massive national chain which has now re-branded a lot of its businesses and sold other bits. Same old, same old there.
Lets not get too hand-wringy shall we? There are enough people talking the town down instead of talking it up as it is!
Best fish and chips for miles around ! Where has Lemon Plaice gone?