Dear Sir,
It was with some pleasure that I read the leading article in Newton News 1st February – Major work starts on town centre, at last!
The article said landords have demonstrated their continued commitment to Newton Aycliffe by making £2m investment. I then turned to Page 7 – M&Co to CLOSE. The reason? Expired lease and higher rent sought.
If this is correct, how does this correlate to ‘continued commitment’ to our town centre? I assume that before agreeing to the development the landlord/developers do actually have a business case for the improvements, and have something more substantial than ‘interest’ from potential new tenants.
If they can’t look after existing retailers, how do they expect to attract new ones? Everyone knows it is more cost effective to nurture existing customers than it is to find new ones.
There is also a statement in the article that tenants ‘can benefit from the new shoppers being attracted’ – which new shoppers are these? Surely it is not believed that new shoppers will be attracted by a few trees and benches?
What is needed is good quality retailers, such as M&Co, without which our town centre will be much the poorer, and no amount of capital investment will improve it.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe something needs to be done with our town centre, I’m just not sure it’s being done in the right way.
Christine Marsh
Sterling Accounting Services
