With the recent news of the grant of planning permission for the proposed Modus redevelopment of Granville Street and the closure of the Market Hall due in October, there is a danger of Swindon losing a whole host of independent traders, says Andrew Kilpatrick of Thompsons. Small independent retailers have an important role to play in any town, adding variety and colour to the local retail scene and providing a welcome relief from the ubiquitous multiple traders, who seem to dominate every high street these days, creating a homogeneous appearance to so many towns. With the Modus scheme necessitating the demolition of the little shops in Morley Street and larger shops in Commercial Road and at the top of Regent Street, there is an acute shortage of small shops available in Swindon at viable rents for small retailers. Whilst some new shops will be built in Davis Street as part of the Modus scheme, generally new shops are likely to be too expensive for the traders in the Market Hall and the likes of Morley Street, where rent and rates typically do not exceed £10,000 per annum.

Andrew Kilpatrick said “Whilst Thompsons are marketing two shops in Commercial Road, one in Market Street and one in Havelock Street, most of which have been viewed by traders looking for a new home, most of the traders would be doubling or trebling their overheads, which means they would have to take a large leap in business risk, since there will be no guarantee their trade would double or treble to match the increased overheads. At present, there is just nowhere in Swindon offering a pitch for small affordable shops in the town centre and with Old Town having been inundated with new flats and apartments and losing its sparkle as a retail destination and with Gorse Hill and Rodbourne seeing deterioration in volumes of trade, there is a major problem, which I believe needs addressing. As it is unlikely to be cost effective to look at new build, a better solution could be to utilise existing vacant buildings or convert ground floors to small shop units, assuming that it is not possible to make available some of the empty shops in the Brunel Centre on the upper floors at the kind of cost in terms of rent, rates and service charge which independent traders can afford and still have enough trade to make a living. We may no longer be a nation of shopkeepers, but the loss of independent retailers would be a blow to Swindon, as they add colour to the high street scene, promote levels of service the larger multiples cannot match and provide spirit to the community”.

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