Furniture shop decides to close its doors

7:23am Friday 22nd March 2013 in Local

A WELL-known furniture store which has traded in Bolton for many years is to close.

The news comes after the owners of Gregory and Porritt failed to agree new lease terms on its base in Knowsley Street.

The company will hold a closing down sale at Easter but no date for closure has yet been announced. However, its lighting section will stay open.

The news comes as Bolton’s HMV shut its doors for the last time yesterday and follows a string of other retail closures — Comet, Jessops and Blockbuster.

However, in other industries 350 new jobs are being created between Law firm Asons and Horwich-based Appliances Online.

Gregory and Porritt is owned by furniture chain Stokers.

Jonathan Stoker, the firm’s managing director, said: “The Gregory and Porritt store is closing down but the lighting franchise, Exclusive Lighting, is not closing and will remain there.

“We have not been able to renegotiate our lease terms.

“The shop had come to the end of its lease and we could not agree new favourable terms.” Stokers has shops in Southport, Ormskirk and Chester and also the Doorway to Value store in Chorley.

Gregory and Porritt’s manager, David Pritchard, is moving to Southport, where a vacancy has arisen. The other three Bolton sales staff will be relocated within the business.

Mr Stoker added: “The Bolton store trades not badly but it is the only store we rent.

“Rates are based on rental values, which are currently based on prerecession figures. Valuations are set on a five-year cycle but the next reevaluation date is being delayed.

“There are other retail sites in Bolton, such as Middlebrook, which have big national retailers who will pay whatever is necessary because those units are in demand.

“However independent retailers, such as us, have to work within different circumstances.”

Earlier this week, Greater Manchester Planning and Housing Commission suggested Bolton should have a smaller retail base concentrated around the market and shopping centres, with the town centre becoming the focus for office accommodation in the north of Greater Manchester with more familyfriendly leisure businesses.

Comments(13)

oftbewildered2 says...
8:39am Fri 22 Mar 13

another one bites the dust - and again because of inability to negotiate a new lease ....................
............. Personally could not afford to shop there, but I will be sorry to see G&P go.

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grimtown says...
8:40am Fri 22 Mar 13

Excelerated decline of Bolton town center!
Yet keith Davies and Cliff Morris say it is booming.

Keith what is the feed back from the french riviera. As Blumante funded the trip I take it it was in an official capacity not a holiday. Please report your findings now?

When is building on church wharf development comencing residents need more detailed information.

Half the units in the market place are now empty.
The council workers in the town hall are doing a poor job of propping up the towns economy as planned.

Free parking what a laugh, I'd want free petrol and car valet to enter Bolton town center. It looks more like beruit each day.

Mind you plenty of places to bet !

My monies on a even faster decline while Bury benefits, and Cliff and Keith dig there heads further in the sand.

As for attracting visitors they can't even attract residents.

as for evening bar trade, any self repecting under 25 drinks in Manchester to avoid the violence and grotty bars. Theres no wher to fine dine, no cinema to future under cliff or keiths leadership.

Prehaps shameless will film there christmas special on bradshawgate.

Mind you the council may have to bring it up to standard.

RIP Bolton Town.

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Bob Shaftoe says...
8:59am Fri 22 Mar 13

Grimtown, you one of the perpetual moaners on these pages. You obviously hate the town so why don't you just move to your beloved Bury? Or do you live there already? G&P is leaving the town, not because of poor trading, but yet again another victim of high business rates and totally unrealistic rents being asked by greedy landlords, who from 1st April, have to pay full rates on empty properties. Serves them right.

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tommy says...
9:05am Fri 22 Mar 13

grimtown wrote:
Excelerated decline of Bolton town center!
Yet keith Davies and Cliff Morris say it is booming.

Keith what is the feed back from the french riviera. As Blumante funded the trip I take it it was in an official capacity not a holiday. Please report your findings now?

When is building on church wharf development comencing residents need more detailed information.

Half the units in the market place are now empty.
The council workers in the town hall are doing a poor job of propping up the towns economy as planned.

Free parking what a laugh, I'd want free petrol and car valet to enter Bolton town center. It looks more like beruit each day.

Mind you plenty of places to bet !

My monies on a even faster decline while Bury benefits, and Cliff and Keith dig there heads further in the sand.

As for attracting visitors they can't even attract residents.

as for evening bar trade, any self repecting under 25 drinks in Manchester to avoid the violence and grotty bars. Theres no wher to fine dine, no cinema to future under cliff or keiths leadership.

Prehaps shameless will film there christmas special on bradshawgate.

Mind you the council may have to bring it up to standard.

RIP Bolton Town.
Dude, you really need to spellcheck your posts if you want people to listen to you. I barely made it past "Excelerated decline of Bolton town center!"

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William2701 says...
10:07am Fri 22 Mar 13

Actually, despite the spelling mistakes grimtown makes some good points. As regards G & P's decision to leave the town centre, as there are so many empty shops within a short distance of their location why are they not making the effort to move and stay in the town?

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apw1246 says...
10:49am Fri 22 Mar 13

I left Bolton in 1979, but still return to visit relatives and I'm saddened by what I see in the town centre, but this problem is so typical of towns up and down the country, especially where you've got an out of town shopping centre within easy reach. I live south of Maidstone in Kent, within 30 minute's drive of Bluewater. The major outlets can show a wider range of merchandise there than in the cramped, old -fashioned premises in local towns and attract shoppers from further afield.
We have two shopping malls in Maidstone, plus the high street outlets. Units in the centre became empty as they moved into the malls. A huge Army & Navy store has been empty for over ten years because House of Fraser moved premises. Even the units in the newest mall have begun to close. There are units in Bluewater that are empty, even with the footfall and the free parking that there is there.
Landlords are unwilling to reduce rents and the government sets the business rate. The minimum parking rate in Maidstone is 70p for up to one hour, including Sundays.
Shops close because no one goes there. Now that you can buy almost everything on line, why bother making the journey ? I remember the time when there was a fantastic choice of men's tailors/outfitters in Bolton, depending on what you wanted to pay. Burtons, John Collier, Jackson the tailor, Austin Reed, Scholes and Scholes, to name but a few. They went as soon as it became fashionable to wear jeans and trainers.
Councils can do a limited amount to encourage businesses to stay, but if you can't get people through the doors to spend money they'll move elsewhere. What we're seeing now are the results of the change in people's shopping habits.

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cliff4treasurer says...
11:43am Fri 22 Mar 13

Councils can also do nowt to keep em and lots to drive em away viz the parking situation in Bolton in recent years,building a car park on the edge of the town centre adjacent to top way after the decline is well under way was a fools idea,
The lethargy over the traffic wardens hatred of anything on 4 wheels, percieved or otherwise, was astounding from a council who tried to tell us they where "doing everything they could to promote Bolton".
The leader of the council ,whats his name now hmmm,telling us the middlebrook would have limited effect on the town centre business/footfall
All these things prove the council had somesort of acceptance that the town centre was to be no more (was it 80,000 ignored re the market hall!!)
No,sorry ,anyone who defends this council regarding the demise of the town centre needs a reality check.
This council are not fully responsible for the demise but the signs where there and they did nothing but wring there hands.

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notsosuperJohn says...
12:51pm Fri 22 Mar 13

Bring back the old market hall. At least then local money would stay in the local economy!

I'm not from Bolton, I've lived here since about 2006, and in that short space of time I've watched the decline at 1st hand.

If you go slightly out of the town centre all that is left are takaways and betting shops, everything else is boarded up.

Could we blame the wanderers for moving their ground to an out of town shopping centre?

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MarkAllRead says...
1:06pm Fri 22 Mar 13

It's a reasonable point to blame Bolton Wanderers. Without them the entire Middlebrook would still be a wasteland and we'd be forced to continue shopping in the town centre.

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Bob Shaftoe says...
1:37pm Fri 22 Mar 13

Al Read,"It's a reasonable point to blame Bolton Wanderers"

Now I've heard everything. For a start Bolton Council under the leadership of Cllr Howarth coerced BWFC to move to a piece of wasteland known at the time as Red Moss. No one wanted us to go there especially the fans, but the then Labour council wanted the football ground as far out of Bolton as they could get. A bad move then and a bad move now. The Reebok only acted as a catalyst for all that has happened at the now named Middlebrook. So don't blame the Wanderers, blame the planners who let it happen, the politicians who wanted it to happen and finally blame yourselves for deserting the town centre to make it happen.

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boltonnut says...
3:48pm Fri 22 Mar 13

Round and round we go in ever decreasing circles till Bolton disappears up the Fat Man's bum.

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Bob Shaftoe says...
5:43pm Fri 22 Mar 13

.....If only you would too boltonnob.

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Just Thought says...
7:27pm Thu 28 Mar 13

I really like Bolton.
Middlebok is best for shpping.
The golf courses are great.
There are some lovely parts of the town in which to live.
While the walking around the fields and hills of Rivington is amazing.
But having said all that the Town Centre is a total dump and whoever is to blame for that they should be ashamed.

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