An Altrincham shop owner says that “something needs to be done” after revealing how his £16,000 business rates bill is FOUR TIMES bigger than at his other, busier shop in Chester city centre.
Ben Molesworth owns Soda, an independent shop on George Street that sells everything from comics and vinyl records to t-shirts and collectables.
He has gone public with his frustrations after finding that Smiths, the clothes shop next door, is to close down.
“I’m in the middle of nowhere now,” he said. “I’m here with a betting shop, a pound shop, a Home Bargains and an Iceland.
“£16,000 (in business rates) could get me a nice shop in the centre of Manchester, and that is something that is constantly on my mind, especially after my neighbours have gone.”
Molesworth first set up in Altrincham two years ago when he took a unit in the Grafton Mall, only for the other four shops in the complex to swiftly shut down.
So a year ago he relocated to his present unit, but says that despite a “great” summer holidays, he has only broken even for the past three months.
“I’m paying the bills, but there’s nothing else,” he said. “When I sort the banking out at the end of the week, I have to really find excuses for this shop, and I hate having to do that.”
There’s another Soda outlet in Wrexham – run by Molesworth’s sister – but it’s his shop in Chester that offers a particularly unfavourable comparison to his Altrincham shop.
Although the Chester shop is slightly smaller, his annual business rates bill comes to almost a quarter of the amount charged in Altrincham – £4,200 – but the shop gets “tons more footfall” on Watergate Street, one of the prime retail streets in the historic city.
Molesworth said his rates bill was due to go up a further 1.5% with the Business Improvement District levy, although he was “weighing up” whether it worth paying for professional support in order to launch an appeal against the rates amount he pays. “I might end up paying a grand to save a grand,” he said.
“Christmas is going to be a big decider for us,” he added. “The new rates bill starts in April, and I’m waiting to see if there is going to be any reduction.
“The thing I really want to do at the moment, but I’m not going to, is to just fill a big van and go and set up a nice shiny new shop in the middle of Manchester, where I will get three times the footfall for the same amount of money. I know that is what some of the other shops that have gone have done.
“I can see what the council are doing in terms of a long-term strategy, but that is going to come at such a cost to all the small and not so small businesses. They say they are sorting the parking out, they say they have a team working on, they say this is happening in 2020, but I’ve heard this all being discussed for the last two years.”
Molesworth emailed Trafford Council earlier this week, setting out his concerns and bemoaning the lack of parking options and signposting in the town.
He added that the end of George Street where Soda was located was increasingly becoming unkempt.
“There needs to be some minimum upkeep required on owned/unoccupied property in Altrincham. The old Millets shop looks so run down, all the paints coming away, the other empty shops on George Street are awful looking, so dirty and broken, they’re now attracting the WRONG kind of people… Stamford Quarter’s kept clean privately but the rest of George Street is an absolute mess.”
In a statement released to Altrincham Today, Trafford Council insisted it worked closely with Altrincham Forward’s Landlords’ Forum to “encourage landlords to keep properties in a state of good repair to attract new tenants”, adding that landlords of key George Street properties had “plans for significant refurbishment”.
It’s understood those properties may include the former Milletts unit, while there are already plans underway to transform the former JJB/Superdrug site into a retail and 37-apartment development.
The Council also sought to defend its ability to reduce business rates in the town.
It said it “currently has no power or discretion over the level of business rates charged to any local businesses, including those in Altrincham”. “Business rates are set by the Valuations Office, on behalf of central government. The Council only has responsibility for collecting business rates and passing them over to central government.”
“A recent announcement in regard to business rates confirmed more powers would be devolved to local government from 2020, but this does not affect the current situation.
“Within Altrincham town centre, Altrincham Forward has worked with the Valuations Office to effect a number of successful appeals against business rates levels in key areas of the town. This resulted in business rates reductions for the period 2013-2017, including for businesses on George Street. Altrincham Forward will continue to work with businesses to identify instances where business rates appeals have a good chance of success, and to highlight the current reliefs available.”
