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Article by Mark Rushton, 2024 |
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Local Businesses 2024
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Rushden Research Group conducted a survey of business occupancy in and around Rushden High Street in 2009, embracing some 200 businesses. Over Christmas 2024 we returned to the original survey to see how things have changed. It must be said that the results were depressing and the intervening 15 years have not been kind to our town. Clearly the arrival of Rushden Lakes, economic uncertainty and the parallel development of internet shopping have had a deep impact, so we sought to classify businesses by nature and identify specific trends. The 2024 survey was designed to mirror those streets examined in 2009 to enable like-for-like comparisons to be made. We start by looking at those business categories that have experienced significant decline. Of the half a dozen banks in 2009 only two remain, with Nationwide and HSBC hanging on for now. Lloyds, TSB, Barclays and Nat West have all gone. Of the three electrical and electrical repair shops just one – Housewife’s Choice – remains. Unsurprisingly, a big victim is the town’s range of small fashion shops, victims of Rushden Lakes. All nine of those identified in the 2009 are gone, with a solitary recent opening (JM Ha Ha UK in Church Street) offering scant compensation. Newsagents have been similarly wiped out, all four having gone, and travel agents have similarly evaporated as customers turn to internet booking – again, all four have closed. Very sadly, the town’s department stores have also gone. Woolworths and Wilko were victims of high-profile national chain failures whilst locals Wills and Peter Crisp also closed their doors. Argos could also be considered a type of department store and it too has gone. Pubs are another endangered species, down from six in the survey area to just two. Closures include the now-derelict eyesore hulk that was once the Feathers, The Wheatsheaf, The Compasses and Cheers on Queen Street, which most recently traded as Woody’s. The extent to which the arrival of Wetherspoon’s at the Railway Inn has contributed to the decline of its local competitors is open to debate but the more general decline of our pubs is undeniable, with other closures outside the survey area including the Oakley and the Viking. It's worth reflecting on the range of niche retailers that Rushden could boast fifteen years ago and which have subsequently gone. Peter Draper’s little photographic shop in the High Street served us well until his recent retirement. Further up the High Street Rushden Music was great for musical instruments, we had a fancy-dress costume hire service at Changing Faces, and two Dry Cleaners. Jan’s Florist recently left the High Street, but only as far as Wellingborough Road, and we also bade farewell to the excellent little outdoor shop at George Alan. WH Smith has also gone, although it could be argued that its days as a quality retailer were firmly behind it by the time Smiths’ withdrew from Rushden. Also just a memory is the Embassy snooker hall, and with the Windmill Club also now threatened, fans of the green beize may soon be faced with a drive to get their fix. It’s also a matter for regret that the Evening Telegraph closed its office in the High Street, severing another tie to the community it used to serve well, but again, this mirrors a national trend of declining scope and quality of local news coverage. Most recently, the long-established HSH furniture showroom opposite Asda on the High Street closed its doors for the last time just before Christmas 2024 in preparation for a flats conversion, but happily the Art Deco building structure will remain unchanged. Clearly not all of the vacated premises stand empty at the date of the survey, so what business types have filled the void? Food stores have nudged upward from eight to sixteen– fueled for the most part by Eastern European specialists. Equally, we continue to enjoy a range of 13 different restaurants, cafes and coffee shops. And beauty outlets of various typed have also experienced growth, up from five to twelve, driven in part by the rise of the nail bar. Hairdressers and barbers have remained constant at 13, although the arrival of Turkish barbers masks a drop-off in more traditional businesses. Fast food outlets continue to be well represented, up from 15 to 18. We also now have a choice of three tattoo parlours, up from just one 15 years ago, and a pair of vape shops. Of the long-term survivors in the survey area, our personal favourites include the ever-excellent Osborne’s Toy Shop, which happily withstood the death of its founder, Jim Osborne and is still a quality family business. We also hand out a gold star to the Pizzeria Venezia, which similarly survived the retirement of its founder, Don and is very much also still in the family and a Rushden staple for a good night out. And West End DIY lives on and has seen off Great Mills and more latterly Focus at Crown Way, both of whom entered administration in the intervening period. More generally, just 60 or so of the businesses identified in 2009, or 30% are trading fifteen years later. What is more worrying is that the turnover in the High Street itself in just the last two years is as high as one third, suggesting ever deeper instability. But the absolutely catastrophic news is that no less than 50 business premises – or roundly one quarter in the sample area – stood empty at the end of 2024. Whilst the 2009 survey did not identify empty units, the underlying data changes point to around a dozen or so being vacant back then. We leave you with the following comparative schedule of how business premises have evolved in the last decade and a half. A direct like-for-like comparison is not possible due to some inconsistencies in property numbering, some breaking out of larger units into multiple smaller ones and vice versa, but we think it’s close enough to paint a representative picture.
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