Hereford city centre to lose two main retail stores

12:00pm Friday 7th September 2012 in Hereford City

HEREFORD city centre has suffered a double-blow as a leading high street chain and one of Hereford's most famous retail stores get set to leave the city.

Next had planned to move to the Old Livestock Market development (OLM), but with work still yet to start it is now seeking permission to open a new store in Holmer.

Next is quitting its Maylord Shopping Centre home laster this year to make way for hardware firm Wilkinson.

In its planning application to move on the site formerly used by Dunhelm, Next said it still wants to move to Hereford's former cattle market when the proposed multi-million pound retail development finally opens.

Meanwhile, Rockfield is to hold a £3m closing down sale next week after it was forced to make way for the link road, as part of the OLM development.

See this week's Hereford Times for the full story.

Comments(18)

Themightyboosh says...
12:57pm Fri 7 Sep 12

omg im shocked buisnesess leaving hereford city centre.
who would of thought it.
what with our wonderful transport system,
free parking,
low buisiness rates,
and of course our wonderfully open and ever listening council that bends over backwards to help our local buisnesess.

sigh..... i cant wait to see what the council comes up with next to try and kill the town.

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Churchill78 says...
2:19pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Same to lose Rockfield. Is there really no where else they can go?
'Next' is an interesting one - they want to be on the Cattle Market site but it's not available. So now they are looking at Holmer. Will they leave afterwards and just open up on the Cattle Market site? Open a second store in the City centre but keep Holmer? Or pull out of the Cattle Market site and just stay on Holmer? Gloucester had this problem with 'Next'; they promised to stay in town (and had a time limited legal agreement to this effect too I believe) when they opened a new store on the outskirts then shut up and left the centre as soon as they could.
Still, new Wilkinson's! Love that shop. Cheap? Moi?

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Churchill78 says...
2:21pm Fri 7 Sep 12

'Shame', not 'same'.
Seriously, there are so many bread crumbs under my keys from eating my sandwiches at my desk I'm amazed this oesn't appen ore ften

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William Rudd says...
6:25pm Fri 7 Sep 12

Rockfield's not in City Centre for start,they chose to take the big pay off and not relocate.Next is going to the old dunelm site on a temp basis until their new store is built on the cattle market site.

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mr.dig says...
7:52pm Fri 7 Sep 12

has dunelms closed please? i dont go to that area now since i stopped driving. thanks.

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littlewhitebull says...
12:46pm Sat 8 Sep 12

It is very sad that Rockfield are ceasing to trade. But good news that Wilkinson appear to be moving into Hereford. An excellent store, in my opinion.

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William Rudd says...
12:55pm Sat 8 Sep 12

Dunelm moved up the road to bigger site

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bobby47 says...
4:11pm Sat 8 Sep 12

So another business has bitten the dust and sucked it's last breath of air.
We are doomed to process chicken and pick fruit.
The local authority should hang their heads in shame

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Lukio says...
9:45am Sun 9 Sep 12

Is Next contractually committed to moving to thE OLM once it's completed? I would fear that once they've undertaken one big move to Holmer Road they may not want to move again. At least the premises in Maylord Orchards won't be left empty with Wilkinsons moving in there.

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FergOfTheFord says...
9:27pm Sun 9 Sep 12

So Rockfield to go and Wilkinson's to set up...out with the old, in with the new.
Can't we do that with the councillors!?

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William Rudd says...
9:54pm Sun 9 Sep 12

At the moment Next cannot trade from the old dunelm site as the whole area is prohibited from trading in clothing.
They have put a planning application in for temporary use until the new store is built.

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Lukio says...
6:56am Mon 10 Sep 12

Ah I see...that's a strange old planning restriction. Oh well, let's see what happens. It would be good to have a bigger Next - it's a bit tight in there at the moment ;)

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nickt2635 says...
11:00am Mon 10 Sep 12

Just been looking at Wilkinsons web site, considering all that they sell how on earth are they going to fit into that puny little "Next" shop? Or maybe they're going to take over the old "Index" shop as well? If Wilkinsons are as good as everyone says they are, will they be a nail in the coffin of Philip Morris and Lakeland?

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TwoWheelsGood says...
11:17am Mon 10 Sep 12

Lukio - it is strange, until you consider that Hereford Futures, a private company into which the Council has 'invested' £million's of our money, has a council employee (Bull) and councillor (Jarvis) on its board. No conflict of interest then as the Council actively stop prospective competitors of the ESG from expanding - Sainsbury's - or moving to Holmer - Next, several years ago. How much has this cost us in terms of lost business rates and spend in the local economy? Who can say. In many respectives, Holmer has the space and is better sited for the big bits of ESG - shops - whilst the smaller bits - chain food vendors could go within the City. Fill the cattle market site with housing and the cinema with the long forgotten new library. Is it so hard?

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Lukio says...
12:04pm Mon 10 Sep 12

Good points, TwoWheels. Sometimes it does seem that there is lack of a sensible approach to these things and I distinctly remember Next being prohibited to move when the new units were built on Holmer Rd. a few years ago. I'm also concerned about the seemingly incestuous relationship between HC, Hereford Futures and Stanhope and I think we don't see what is really going on. I hope for the future of this city that what they are doing is totally within the interest of the taxpayer and not about lining pockets. Or am I being naive?

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trucking says...
5:49pm Mon 10 Sep 12

Well i wish they would hurry up and start builing the new cinema, the one we have at the moment is a joke, the sooner the ESG gets built the better its an eyesore at the moment.

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shunter50 says...
9:22pm Thu 4 Oct 12

who do stanhope think they are after all the excuses about the delay in starting work on the grid,queens visit etc when she never went close to the site they now have the temerity to try to influence planning decisions on planning consent do they have some kind of hold over certain councillors.this council can make their own bad decisions without any help from anybody else

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BeeKee says...
4:07pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Dunhelm?? Laster this year?? you arent even trying any more lol!

oh but what a shame about Next. poor women of hereford have nowhere to shop as it is. this will become a ghost town before long.

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