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Shutting up Shop

Newcastle’s Grey Street, once voted the best in the UK, is suffering during the economic downturn.

Vacant shop fronts and ‘to let’ signs are an increasing picture of troubled times, even for the street described by poet Sir John Betjeman as “perfect”.

More than 11 ‘to let’ and ‘for sale’ signs have gone up in the prestigious street as the recession hits businesses.

Grey Street is one of many suffering with high street shutdowns, as businesses struggle to cope with high rents and shoppers tighten their purses.

A printing shop, a rare book store and an estate agents are just a few of the stores that have disappeared from the city centre, leaving empty windows along the street.

City centre manager David Usher said the increase in the number of ‘for sale’ and ‘to let’ signs was more to do with the national scene than the region’s own economic climate.

He said: “There have been quite a lot of office space available for some time now. There seems to be quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between tenants.

“But the problem is we don’t know when these office spaces and shops will be re-let.”

“There is still a lot of confidence in the city but we don’t know what the climate will be like in 12 months’ time.”“And there is a chance that it could be a lot worse than imagined. It really will be a difficult year for businesses but people in the North East are very resilient against this kind of challenge.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .