Bulwell shoppers have shared their frustration over the town’s continuous shop closures. Residents have expressed their wish for more clothes and grocery shops and said no more charity shops are needed in the area.
This comes after the British Heart Foundation has proposed the opening of a new furniture store on the former site of Argos off Holborn Place, three years after its closure.
Karen Squires, 62, who is a carer from Bulwell, said: “We don’t want any more charity shops or nails shops. What we really need is a ladies’ clothes shops.
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“It’s only Tesco upstairs that sells ladies’ clothes, so we need more. I’m going into town on Saturday to get some clothes for my holidays because there’s nowhere else to go around here.
“It would bring a lot of people back in because they’d have the shops that they needed. People want to shop locally but they have nowhere to go.”
Paul Willett, 72, retired and from Bulwell, said grocery shops are also needed in the area. He said: “This used to be quite a thriving street over the years but it’s gone down the drain a bit.
“People have been forced to go out of Bulwell because of all the closures. There used to be grocery shops, butchers, and even a fish shop as well around here. We need those back.”
Some shoppers have argued that the British Heart Foundation’s plans to open a furniture shop are “better than nothing.” Isabelle Williams, 73, retired and from Sherwood, comes to Bulwell for its bank.
She said: “This place is just a shadow of what it used to be. I think it’s better to have something rather than nothing, but all the closures have been dreadful.
“These little areas and towns are dying on their feet and it’s awful. I come here because there’s a bank but if that closed, I guess I would come here less and I think that’s the case with a lot of people.
“The Internet hasn’t done anybody any good either, especially for us, older citizens.”
This has been echoed by Julian Wilson, 47, who is a retired property landlord from Bilborough. He said: “We don’t do Internet shopping, we’d like to get out and about and do our own shopping rather than doing it all online. It’s lacking a bit wherever you go, either in town or here.”
Another Bilborough shopper, John Typler, 79, argued that other areas of Nottinghamshire are worse. He said: “Bulwell’s not all that bad, I’ve seen worse. I come here because it has a decent variety of shops and we don’t have a bank in Bilborough anymore.”
A number of independent and well-known high street shops have closed in the town in recent times, including Boots and a NatWest bank.
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