Business owners in a 'forgotten' part of Nottingham have described feeling 'in limbo' after plans were dropped to revamp a row of shops opposite the Motorpoint Arena. Proposals to enhance the front of a string of shops in Southwell Road, near Sneinton Market, had been earmarked as part of the Nottingham Heritage Action Zone.
Announced several years ago, the five-year programme, supported by Historic England funding and worth £2.7m overall for heritage-led regeneration, included 17 projects aiming to revitalise historic and neglected buildings across the city centre.
The city council said other building projects had been successful with improvements completed or in progress on streets including Upper Parliament Street, Angel Row, Market Street and Wheeler Gate. But the council said that due to the "costs and deliverability challenges" the revamp in Southwell Road had not gone ahead.
Read more: Businesses have their say on plans to revamp row of shops near Motorpoint Arena
The row of shops date back to the 1920s and new timber shop fronts had been proposed to spruce up the appearance of the street. However, affected businesses described feeling 'in limbo' because they're unsure what the future holds and therefore reluctant to spend money to fix-up the properties themselves.
The improvements had been planned to enhance and restore occupied and vacant ground floor properties which include Surface Gallery, That Weird Shop, Mary's Cafe and the Get N Go off-licence. Denise Morton, the owner of Mary's Cafe, which has been based in Southwell Road for 17 years, said she was concerned about the condition of the windows of the cafe and state of the existing timber frames which she fears could be rotting.
She said: "About three years ago, we had a meeting where the council said they were going to put the shops back to how they used to be and it would start around the Christmas time. Nothing happened but we were told that we would be closed for three weeks for the work but we had just been shut for three months because of Covid.
"We couldn't afford to close but then we were told nothing was going to happen because the money wasn't there anymore. I emailed the council about the state of the road because I had concerns about the empty buildings being left to go into disrepair. It feels like we are a forgotten area where they have spent all of the money over the road. I sent the council photos so they could see how bad it was getting."
She was referring to the regeneration of Sneinton Market and new developments which have been completed or under construction. When it comes to making improvements to their shops in Southwell Road, business owners are reluctant to take on the financial burden themselves because they feel there is no reassurance on what will become of the properties in the long term.
Ms Morton said she was "in limbo" over what the future holds. Saying: "We are now wondering what do we do? Do we look for someone else, try and sell?"
Jason Whatley, a musician who is known in the industry as Zero, owns That Weird Shop which sells retro and vintage collectibles with a haunted basement display. He has moved to bigger premises a few doors down on the same street but he claimed there'd been a lack of communication when it came to the failed revamp.
"The plans looked amazing for all of the shop fronts. I was in another property down the other end of the road but I specifically didn't do anything with the front because the work was supposed to be done on all shop fronts. We've had no communication though so we don't know," he said.
"It's like they have spent all this money on the other side (Sneinton Market) which is fantastic but the retailers on this side have been left out. On this side of the street, we don't seem to get much correspondence."
Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis, the city council's portfolio holder for leisure, culture and planning, said: “The Heritage Action Zone had a long list of heritage buildings that we explored the opportunity to provide grant support for improvements.
"The costs and deliverability challenges with this building meant other buildings across the city centre were successful, with heritage-led improvements either completed or in progress. These include properties on Upper Parliament Street, Angel Row, Market Street, Wheeler Gate and the Birkin Building in the Lace Market.
“All the Heritage Action Zone funding has now been allocated. Now that the scheme on Southwell Road has unfortunately not gone ahead, we will consider future options for the building.” Nottinghamshire Live contacted Historic England for comment.
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