'Road closures in Harborough may cause our business to shut' - warning from Age UK chief

An Age UK chief is warning – re-open Adam and Eve Street in Market Harborough now or we’ll have to shut our clothes shop.

Tony Donovan, executive director of the leading charity for the elderly in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, is urging Harborough council to act now.

He’s spoken out as other traders on Church Street as well as Adam and Eve Street are also calling for the twin town centre roads to be opened to traffic.

The streets have been closed to motorists by the council to allow shoppers to queue safely as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are gradually lifted.

But Age UK boss Tony said: “We are right on the brink now.

“Adam and Eve Street has to be thrown back open now.

“We’ve not been able to re-open our clothes shop there yet.

“And we might never be able to open it again unless the council takes down its barriers.”

He said the shop has traded on Adam and Eve Street since 1987.

“We are proud to have been there for 33 years.

“In all that time we have seen so many other retailers come and go,” said Tony.

“The rents are very high – despite that part of town becoming more secondary.

“We have to fork out £22,500 a year rent.

“We also employ a full-time manager and a part-time assistant backed up by volunteers.

“So salaries and overheads push outgoings up towards £60,000.

“That’s a heck of a lot of money we have to generate before we even start to make any cash for our charity.

“We were struggling before the coronavirus crisis hit us.

“I’ve now emailed the council’s chief executives and leader asking them to re-open our road.

“We get some very nice donations at our Market Harborough outlet – better than any of our other clothes shops.

“But we desperately need people to be able to drive into Adam and Eve Street, bringing a lot more custom to our shop when we do re-open.”

He said their bookshop on The Square also faces a tough battle as the country heads for a “massive recession” after the devastating virus pandemic.

“It does well and again offers a first-class service to local people.

“But I came away from there feeling despondent the other day because we also shell out over £20,000 a year rent there too,” said Tony.

“I’ve written to all our 26 landlords across our patch highlighting the problem we’ve got.

“And only four or five bothered to get back to me.

“We raise vital money for day care and we help people claim benefits as well as our shops acting as information and advice hubs.

“We also have a lunch club in Market Harborough.

“So it’s crucial that we continue to operate as many shops as possible enabling us to support as many people as we can.”

Worried Amber Lucas, who manages Gardners Cakery on Church Street, said: “We would like to see both Church Street and Adam and Eve Street re-opened now.

“We can understand why the roads were closed temporarily as our town centre began to re-open after the virus lockdown.

“But it’s just not busy enough to warrant closing these roads now and severely reducing our footfall.”

Cllr Phil King, who leads Harborough District Council, said they have written to businessmen and women affected by the temporary road closures asking for their thoughts.

“We are listening and asking them to keep in touch.

“We can’t just remove the road barriers.

“We’d have to follow through a set process with the county council, the highways authority,” said Cllr King.

“It might not be perfect but we are doing all we can and we will continue to review this situation day by day.”