An independent florist and a beauty salon which both opened in the village last year have recently closed.
After working in the industry for the past 8 years, Heather Leigh from Staffordshire started a new venture and opened her own shop in the village centre in October.
Country Chic Floral Design was located at 12 George Street, in the premises previously occupied by Bettie Blue gift shop and Ayla Rose lingerie boutique.
Additionally, a beauty salon on London Road, which was taken over by Simone Dixon in February 2017 and rebranded from Nailworks to Cheshire Beauty, has also closed down.
At the time of publication we have been unable to obtain a comment from the owners regarding why they decided to close their Alderley Edge business and their future plans.
Comments
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The village will sadly continue to die unless something drastic is done immediately to save footfall, this is a vicious circle, unless there there is somewhere to park beyond 1 - 1.5 hours you will not attract footfall back into the village , customers I have in my store don't even have enough time to have there nails painted or hair done let alone try on clothes !
The village lacks interesting retailers at the moment ,we have no house shop, gift shop,antiques shop, kids or mens retailer but why would you want to consider opening a new business if your potential customers wouldn't be able to park !!
Then we retailers have the cost of sky high rent and business rates which have just been increased again despite me desperately trying to make the council and local government see some sense, they would rather have empty units through out Alderley and Wilmslow.
Its time for some drastic change !
Despite the comment above- there is in fact a men’s retailer in the village (parasol- for those who haven’t been) which has a really fantastic offering of clothes and accessories. There is also a number of shops which sell gifts and home accessories (mainly the florists which have learnt over the years to branch out to keep with the times!). A gift shop in its own right tried to open and there simply wasn’t the demand to be sustainable- parking can’t always be blamed.
We have also attracted a number of new retailers in the last few months- with one more due to open imminently.
Sometimes it’s all too easy to focus on the negatives and not look on the positives! A changeable highstreet now and in the future is inevitable with variables like online shopping etc particularly in a village like ours which doesn’t have the footfall of a city centre. It may be that certain sectors such as gifts, antiques etc are doing their research and finding that there isn’t enough demand because people shop online/ use local artisan markets etc and that’s the reason they aren’t opening in the village (sensible!) - I just hope that residents and visitors continue to utilise the village and support the great services it continues to offer!
You make several good points.
High Street retailers everywhere have taken a big hit in recent years, either to "Out of Town" retail parks or (increasingly) to "Online" suppliers.
There is no such thing as "Niche" anymore as everything is accessible online. With that increased availability comes much greater competition and the sort of price premium required to sustain a retail business in Alderley Edge is really hard to engineer.
Sadly, the trend is irreversible and I for one would hate to see a park / playing field / allotment or other green leisure space sacrificed in the forlorn hope that Rawson Chad might again sell quality boots and shoes in Alderley Edge.
Most traders quote a lack of parking as one reason for a fall in footfall.
If there is not a political will for a large car park, might something at least be tried?
In my opinion, the least 'disturbing' of the alternatives for a car park is to extend the present car park in the park. From the east end of the present car park, up to the embankment/London Road.
The land involved is hardly used.
If a new car park were put there, it could be done in the 'stones and chippings' method.
After all, does a car park have to be built 'to last a thousand years'?
This would be the least costly method and would mean that the land could easily be reclaimed in the future ?
It would also mean a minimal damage to trees etc. and new saplings could be planted around the new car park?
This could be seen as a 'suck it and see' approach? Something of more use than thee and me wringing our hands on the sidelines?
Perhaps you have not seen a copy of the recent Parish Council Newsletter? In it, I set out options to provide three new or extended car parks, which collectively would provide a total of 134 spaces. Rather than providing one large car park, as you suggest, these three options recognise that there are different needs in different areas of the village and that people park in those areas for different reasons: commuting, shopping, visiting, etc.
Each of the options we have presented however, would require a change of use of the existing land, as well as the provision of further parkland or allotment land elsewhere, in compensation. As our village is surrounded by green belt, this is impossible to achieve without redrawing the green belt boundaries; a process which can only be done through the Local Plan.
The latest information from Cheshire East is that the Local Plan (Part 2) will not be finalised until at least the summer of 2019; therefore these are the constraints under which the current Parish Council are working and under which the next Parish Council will be working. Unfortunately, therefore, the “suck it and see” approach you suggest is simply not possible, at least in the immediate term.
I have to say that a “stones and chippings” method might well raise more questions than it answers, for example: how would you seek to implement a parking regime on such a surface, in the absence of marked bays; in the absence of any regime, how would you prevent the area being taken over by members of the travelling community; how would a recurrence of the chaos that previously existed at Ryleys Lane Car Park be avoided; and finally, how would you prevent further encroachment by vehciles into the park?
Kind regards,
Craig
1. no I haven't seen the latest Parish Council Newsletter.
2. 'stones and chippings' for a surface to park on was ulilised by the 'Select Property' people and it seemed to work. They also used a 'roll out' of an artificial material, onto the surface of the land. Might it be worth while talking to them? I always found them to be friendly and helpful.
3. since there is an existing car park at the park, would there be a 'change of use'? I have been told that a good while back, there was a row of terraced housing where the present car park is and possibly also where the proposed car park would be; might that affect any queston of 'change of use'?
4. the traveling community do not seem to wish to park on the existing park's car park so why would they drive over that, to get at a chippings surface?
5. how to prevent furthur encroachment? planting bushes/saplings with a ditch alondside. I believe farmers have been doing that for ages?
6. no marked bays? Just as the park's car park was, for many years?
Instead of gainsaying, perhaps a questioning of C.E. ? Can it hurt ?
After all, as I mentioned above, a 'stones and chippings' or a 'roll out' would not be a permanent car park and might that affect the possible 'change of use'?
I’m sorry to hear that you did not receive a newsletter. I will deliver one personally to ensure this oversight is corrected. The car park at Horseshoe Farm (Select Property Group) is on private land, so not really comparable in terms of needing a regime; however, it did still require planning permission.
Planning permission for an extension to the Ryleys Lane Car Park, even if for a temporary period, would still be required. It would not be granted in the absence of land being made available to compensate for the loss to the park, as this would contravene both CE and national planning policy.
Kind regards,
Craig