Last week we learnt that the national average town centre vacancy rate was 12 per cent of shop units unlet. How does Rhuthun/Ruthin compare?
Not badly, it has to be said. But there's trouble on the horizon with more known closures in the offing.
But in spite of what you might think, it isn’t always easy to judge exactly what constitutes a vacant unit. Does one include the former Slater’s car sales & vehicle maintenance, for example? Though this isn’t retail A1/2/3, I’ve taken the view that this large site used to trade in the town centre and is therefore countable.
What about the former Lavelle’s café on Clwyd Street and other shops that have converted to residential? No, they should not be counted. And the former giftware Artifacts, Well Street? Tricky, as this opens once a year as the poppy appeal high command; yet it’s been closed as a shop for so long (with its stock transferred to the also long closed Mason’s) it’s unlikely to return to regular retail use. The former butcher & bric-a-brac almost opposite? This degenerating frontage has been out of use not nearly as long as Artifacts. It’s arguable whether it will ever find its way back in but it’s possible.
Should one include short lets like Streets of Gold, Clwyd Street? Here is a trader that’s come, gone, come again, is likely to go and where the only activity seems to be the arrival of a new black and gold table cloth. But it’s trading. Or, at least, occupied.
Lastly, what about the imminent closure of Ethel Austin? It’s on a knife-edge but at the time of this survey, the shop’s still trading.
This means that the percentage of vacant town centre premises in Rhuthun is 14.2 per cent. This compares to 10.4 per cent in November 2009 and 19.1 per cent in July 2008.
Towns such as Rhuthun, Yr Wyddgrug/Mold, Dinbych/Denbigh and even Y Rhyl fail to feature in the national survey, so there are no readily available comparisons. Here’s the position regarding larger local towns, noting that Wrexham seems worse than the stats make it out (with large high profile former Woolworth’s, Marks & Spencer and some fashion shops unlet); and Chester looks better on paper than in the flesh, so to speak.
By way of comparison, the UK’s worst is Margate at 27.2 per cent. 35 of the 237 towns in the survey we worse than Rhuthun.
Empty town centre units in Rhuthun are: Grosvenor Florist; Slater’s; Sweetie Heaven; Que Paso; Ruthin Carpets; bric-a-brac, Well Street; Pass it On; Thresher’s; Majestic Travel (part); three empty units Clwyd Street; former restaurant/takeaway near Prints & Plains in the courtyard behind Clwyd Street; Kader Orlint; Traed Bach; Watergate Tea Rooms; former jeweller, Upper Clwyd Street; sandwich shop adj Beehive; and Lucinda.
Not badly, it has to be said. But there's trouble on the horizon with more known closures in the offing.
But in spite of what you might think, it isn’t always easy to judge exactly what constitutes a vacant unit. Does one include the former Slater’s car sales & vehicle maintenance, for example? Though this isn’t retail A1/2/3, I’ve taken the view that this large site used to trade in the town centre and is therefore countable.
What about the former Lavelle’s café on Clwyd Street and other shops that have converted to residential? No, they should not be counted. And the former giftware Artifacts, Well Street? Tricky, as this opens once a year as the poppy appeal high command; yet it’s been closed as a shop for so long (with its stock transferred to the also long closed Mason’s) it’s unlikely to return to regular retail use. The former butcher & bric-a-brac almost opposite? This degenerating frontage has been out of use not nearly as long as Artifacts. It’s arguable whether it will ever find its way back in but it’s possible.
Should one include short lets like Streets of Gold, Clwyd Street? Here is a trader that’s come, gone, come again, is likely to go and where the only activity seems to be the arrival of a new black and gold table cloth. But it’s trading. Or, at least, occupied.
Lastly, what about the imminent closure of Ethel Austin? It’s on a knife-edge but at the time of this survey, the shop’s still trading.
This means that the percentage of vacant town centre premises in Rhuthun is 14.2 per cent. This compares to 10.4 per cent in November 2009 and 19.1 per cent in July 2008.
Towns such as Rhuthun, Yr Wyddgrug/Mold, Dinbych/Denbigh and even Y Rhyl fail to feature in the national survey, so there are no readily available comparisons. Here’s the position regarding larger local towns, noting that Wrexham seems worse than the stats make it out (with large high profile former Woolworth’s, Marks & Spencer and some fashion shops unlet); and Chester looks better on paper than in the flesh, so to speak.
By way of comparison, the UK’s worst is Margate at 27.2 per cent. 35 of the 237 towns in the survey we worse than Rhuthun.
| Wrexham | 4.7% |
| Chester | 14.1% |
| Llandudno | 7.8% |
| Liverpool | 16.8% |
| Shrewsbury | 9.3% |
| Manchester | 16.8% |
Empty town centre units in Rhuthun are: Grosvenor Florist; Slater’s; Sweetie Heaven; Que Paso; Ruthin Carpets; bric-a-brac, Well Street; Pass it On; Thresher’s; Majestic Travel (part); three empty units Clwyd Street; former restaurant/takeaway near Prints & Plains in the courtyard behind Clwyd Street; Kader Orlint; Traed Bach; Watergate Tea Rooms; former jeweller, Upper Clwyd Street; sandwich shop adj Beehive; and Lucinda.