WHAT CRISIS ? appeared to be the message from traders' leaders who met Monmouth Town Councillors this week. The reason for the meeting was recent concern about the number of empty premises in the town. The meeting was given a statement from Parry's Commercial, which revealed the high demand for business premises in Monmouth. The statement from Parry's said: "The level of demand for commercial premises, and in particular retail premises, in Monmouth continues to be high with demand far exceeding supply. "We remain confident at least in the short term that this situation will continue, particularly due to the number of requirements we currently have within our databases. "A number of premises remain empty due to imminent lease expiries or as the Landlords are awaiting the outcome of change of use applications, prior to completing leases or marketing their units. Due to the nature of leasehold interests, time lags are often unavoidable, leaving units vacant for weeks, sometimes months. "All of the retail units we are currently marketing, bar one, are in solicitors hands. We expect those to complete in the coming weeks and are hopeful of agreeing terms on the other unit this week, due to the strong interest from the signboard alone prior to our database mailshot. "We would welcome the opportunity to talk to any Landlords or Tenants that have unused space that they might wish to consider a disposal of on either a Leasehold or Freehold basis." The owner of a town based IT Centre said he had seven enquiries from businesses wishing to rent the shop he leases, even though it had not been advertised. David Cummings, chairman of Monmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Commerce, outlined to the meeting the current situation with regard to empty premises. He said: that at present there are ten empty shops in Monnow Street. Of these: No 116: Previously owned by Waitrose but was surplus to requirements. The freehold was sold in 2006 and Bairstowe Eves (Estate Agents) are planning to move into the premises just as soon as building works are complete No 36: Previously Stewarts, and now under development by HBOS. The estimated date of re- opening is 26th March 2007 No 34: Previously Haarts Estate Agents (who have moved to new premises) and Books & Puzzles (closing because of termination of lease) is applying for change of use to an up market Italian pizza restaurant, a development welcomed by other restaurants in the town One shop is closing because of insufficient space to expand the business and is moving to larger premises within Monmouth; a new lease has been assigned to a music shop One shop has closed, reason unknown, but a new lease has been assigned to a manicurist / beautician One shop has closed, reason unknown, but an offer has been made on the lease for an internet sales outlet The shop previously operated as CafÈ Monnow is under development; however, we understand that structural repairs are need to be made to the building. One shop closed because the owner died. This has recently been sold and, we understand, that planning consent for change of use is to be applied for One shop went out of business but the landlord is considering offers on the lease from several national chains Only one shop closed because the proposed new rent was too high; however, the lease has been assigned to a dry cleaning outlet Whilst the number of shops that have closed recently or are expected to close is considerable, it is unlikely that any will remain closed for any considerable period apart, perhaps, from the CafÈ Monnow building which has its own particular problems. There appears to be no lack of interest in uptake of empty premises. The Monmouth & District Chamber of Trade & Commerce propose to extend their survey to Church Street and Priory Street and are prepared to report at the next meeting of the Town Council.
