It will be good to see the empty Thresher's shop on the Square come back to life, if development plans are approved. But does Rhuthun/Ruthin's focal point really need a take away?
Another take away is not bad in itself. The main snag is that such shops tend only to open after hours. Though they fill a space in town, they can also look forlorn during the daytime. And its presence might lend the Square an air of the suburban shopping centre, for kebab outlets and pizzerias tend to punctuate suburban shopping streets where they come to life only when everyone else locks up and the street lights go on.
Tresher's is next door to Bar Llaeth which itself has undergone a transformation from café to café-with-take-away. Bar Llaeth is, of course, a long standing business and the proprietors' recent investment was a means of increasing turnover at a time when they acknowledged the town's post-Tesco footfall had dropped. Now, it seems, comes all too close competition.
The new premises will face the same issue as did Bar Llaeth: how to install a suitably discrete extractor duct at the rear of a Grade II listed building. As we understand matters, there are no other significant external alterations planned.
Assuming the new take away will open late during the evening, it will attract far more traffic onto St Peter's Square, perhaps even supplanting Crispin Yard as the place for Boy Racers to be. This would be ironic given that The Masterplan would envisage the Square going back to being centred more on people rather than traffic and parking. The current exhibition majors on the fact that the Square is already dominated by cars, parked and moving. You can imagine that a business relying on the drive through trade will be very much adverse to any changes on the Square.
But we should still be grateful that an empty reopens. Tresher's closed in November 2009 following the national First Quench businesses going into administration. One significant reason for its collapse was the sheer scale of the supermarket alcohol offer, and the bargain prices available. Given Tesco's presence in Rhuthun, the replacement of a similar convenience type retailer was always unlikely.
Another take away is not bad in itself. The main snag is that such shops tend only to open after hours. Though they fill a space in town, they can also look forlorn during the daytime. And its presence might lend the Square an air of the suburban shopping centre, for kebab outlets and pizzerias tend to punctuate suburban shopping streets where they come to life only when everyone else locks up and the street lights go on.
Tresher's is next door to Bar Llaeth which itself has undergone a transformation from café to café-with-take-away. Bar Llaeth is, of course, a long standing business and the proprietors' recent investment was a means of increasing turnover at a time when they acknowledged the town's post-Tesco footfall had dropped. Now, it seems, comes all too close competition.
The new premises will face the same issue as did Bar Llaeth: how to install a suitably discrete extractor duct at the rear of a Grade II listed building. As we understand matters, there are no other significant external alterations planned.
Assuming the new take away will open late during the evening, it will attract far more traffic onto St Peter's Square, perhaps even supplanting Crispin Yard as the place for Boy Racers to be. This would be ironic given that The Masterplan would envisage the Square going back to being centred more on people rather than traffic and parking. The current exhibition majors on the fact that the Square is already dominated by cars, parked and moving. You can imagine that a business relying on the drive through trade will be very much adverse to any changes on the Square.
But we should still be grateful that an empty reopens. Tresher's closed in November 2009 following the national First Quench businesses going into administration. One significant reason for its collapse was the sheer scale of the supermarket alcohol offer, and the bargain prices available. Given Tesco's presence in Rhuthun, the replacement of a similar convenience type retailer was always unlikely.
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Shops