There have been many changes in Ramsbottom recently, with local shops closing, bars and restaurants opening, the face of Ramsbottom has morphed…slightly. Is it too much?
W&D Scholes shop, which has been in Ramsbottom for decades now has the relevant planning permission to allow it a change of function for the development of Havana Bar and Restaurant.
The currently empty Denise Smiths Lighting shop is going to be Lolos Vegan and Raw, the Puppet Theatre shop recently closed and Gregg and Terri Fletcher are moving on from Purple Tiger.
To highlight the changes even more, the old puppet shop is being looked into by Levanter Fine Foods as a potential bar.
In the last few years Ramsbottom has increased its number of bars, cafes and restaurants and there has been a decrease in the number of shops.
A positive to note is that this is far better than empty shops and boarded up buildings. However the negative impact, it has the potential of turning Ramsbottom into a ghost town during the day, with bars and restaurants closed awaiting the evening trade.
It’s not all bad news for daytime shopping though, there are still plans by Paul Morris to open his Chocolate Factory on the site of the old paper mill and along with that his vision for the artisan village to go amongst it. This has a real potential to bring in lots of visitors and daytime trade, in addition the recent proposed changes to the markets.
As well as this D J Cycles which is currently on Longsight road will be moving to the dress shop next to Bev’s Barbers, granted this isn’t exactly the main High Street of Ramsbottom, but it’s certainly another shop opening which is good. I’ve also had word that Purple Tiger is going to be a children’s shoe shop, one of which we only lost a couple of months ago.
With this all taken into account, I’m sympathetic, it is a very hard balance to achieve a thriving community of shops during the day and a successful collection of restaurants and bars by night. Hard, but not impossible.
Very rarely does a shop and restaurants occupy the same space.
What’s your opinion, do you think that Ramsbottom is suffering with the recent closure of some shops, or is it just going through another of the many changes that Ramsbottom has throughout the years?
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There’s also Stitch who have now moved into a retail unit on Silver Street who sell fabrics and run classes. I feel that it’s definitely better for the premises to have cafes or restaurants in them rather than be empty but for the high street to attract a bigger footfall that would otherwise go to Bury the high street needs a mixture of independent and high street chain retailers. It seems to work in places like Hebdon Bridge and Clitheroe which also have a lot of cafes and restaurants. There seems to be an opposition to chain businesses in the area for fear they may harm more independents but they are the businesses that draw people in. If the independents are doing a good enough job with unique products and services that you can’t buy in the supermarkets or chains then there is definitely room for both. Inviting store environments, strong brand identity, regular new products and keeping up to date with trends are also key to success. I feel excited about the new restaurants that are opening I think it will attract new people to the area with new ideas and perhaps the increased footfall of people using those businesses might give people confidence to start their own retail businesses here. Exciting times ahead for Ramsbottom!
You make a very good point regarding the chains. There is a lot of fear over what they might do in a town, usually its giving people an alternative and pushing prices down so low that local businesses can’t compete. It doesn’t always happen like this and can, as you say, actually bring in more revenue with the attraction of customers. The risk we have with a nightlife and little “day life” is that no one will see these shops open so they won’t bother coming back, but if a chain shop attracted people, at least they would see what is around locally during the day.
There are still people who don’t like that there are supermarkets here, I wonder where they do their shopping though, would certainly be an interesting survey.
Stitch shop looks great, a fantastic addition to the Ramsbottom retail space.
Ramsbottom town is the envy of many town within the valley and beyond, much has been written about “the death of the high street’ but Ramsbottom is bucking the trend. I much prefer a property occupied that one that is empty however the trend in Charity shops seems to never end. The BIG issue are the rates payable, landlords must pay even if a shop is empty, if it is occupied by a charity the rates payable are greatly reduced.
That would explain the trend of a Charity shop opening and how they’re still thriving. Thanks for that information and thanks for the comments.
I was out last night (Tuesday) looking for a meal with a friend- all the bars and restaurants in the centre of town were either empty or very quiet. I suspect turning the town into a ‘gastro hub’ is only providing a few low paid part time jobs – and mostly at weekends.
The Chocolate Cafe recently advertised for a Batista (coffee maker) at £7 an hour with an average of 20 hours a week.
Don’t think I’ve been out on a Tuesday yet for a meal. Thursday I have and Levanter was busy where we went.
Is it true that Dominos is coming to Ramsbottom and that the empty shop is to be a hydroponic grow kit shop.
Kerrd
I hope not. Neither of these places would receive much of a warm welcome in Ramsbottom.