Businesses along a historic Nottingham street say business is "fantastic" despite several shop closures in recent months across the wider city. Angel Row is not believed to have been known as a shopping street until well into the 18th century, but it is now the home of several pubs, eateries and shops.
Recent challenges including rising inflation and more shopping being done online has led to the closure of several Nottingham businesses in recent months. Nottinghamshire Live recently identified around 90 empty shops across the city centre.
But on Angel Row, some of its business owners say their niche offerings are helping them weather the economic challenges being faced by many. One of the companies calling Angel Row home is Element Games, a Warhammer store and games workshop which also has branches in locations such as Manchester and Sheffield.
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The manager of the store is Ed Wilkins, who said: "One of our main selling points is that we are very competitively priced compared to other outlets and in a cost of living crisis, that obviously helps. This is obviously a great location for footfall and we just offer something a little bit different."
Customer assistant Tom Bentley added: "When Henry Cavill came out as a huge Warhammer fan, that really helped us. But in general I'd say trade has been fantastic and unlike a lot of hobby shops where there is almost a pressure for someone to buy something, we would much rather somebody come in here, have a browse and a pleasant experience and then want to come back again."
Another one of the businesses giving Angel Row its diverse mix is NGVape, which fronts Angel Row but is classed as being part of the West End Arcade. Its manager Kwan Lam said: "Being in this area, we obviously benefit from having a lot of passing trade from uni students and people going to and from work.
"Smoking is obviously an addiction and so we are seeing more and more people coming in here and using these products as a way of stopping. After the pandemic, demand really seemed to go up and it's still strong now."
One of the more long-standing Angel Row businesses is Heavenly Desserts, which first started trading on the street in 2016. Manager Xavier Carvalho said: "Business has been strangely slow this last week, but it is now picking up again and in general it's been really good over the last eight months.
"We have long opening hours but our busiest times are in the evenings, particularly between 7pm and 11pm before people go on a night out. It's a great location to be in and overall we're doing really good at the moment."
Speaking earlier in the year about the need for a diverse mix of businesses on Nottingham's high streets, East Midlands Chamber's Chief Executive, Scott Knowles, said: "It's important we recognise that the modern-day city centre won't look like it did in the pre-Covid years when retail played a dominant role. Today and tomorrow's successful cities will instead feature a mix of places for people to live, work and spend leisure time, meaning we need to think more broadly and creatively about our future high street proposition."
It comes after plans were put forward to improve the area around Angel Row and Maid Marian Way, in a bid to make the city centre safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
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