Plan to transform Shrewsbury street into traditional food shops
Monday 26th July 2010, 1:00PM BST.
ONE OF the main gateways into Shrewsbury town centre could be transformed into a haven for food lovers with empty shops turned into butchers, fishmongers and delicatessens to help regenerate the area, it was claimed today.
It is hoped low rents may entice food retailers selling fine Shropshire produce to open up in Castle Gates.
And a regular outdoor bazaar showcasing local produce and vintage memorabilia is another idea to give the area near the town’s railway station a more bustling feel.
Shopkeeper Sheila Sagar, 50, from Shrewsbury Bakehouse, in Castle Gates, has come up with the vision and hopes it could move a step closer to reality tonight as members of Shrewsbury Town Council’s finance and general purposes committee discuss holding outdoor events in the area.
If they are in favour Mrs Sagar said she would apply for a licence to hold regular bazaars.
She said: “This is the first area visitors see when they leave Shrewsbury train station and it needs to make an impact and set the tone.
“In some respects it is one of the most important areas. We have all these visitors sitting on the doorstep and we need to tap into that.
“A lot of the buildings in this area look appalling and if we don’t make the right impression they are never coming back.
“The rents are so low here that some of the shops are beginning to get snapped up but they have nothing to do with food. It would make more sense to get a group of similar, high quality local producers and promote the area as a foodie part of town.
“We would also like to bring people together in the area with monthly events where we can put local produce on show and promote businesses in Shropshire.”
Mrs Sagar said negotiations were ongoing with the council. She added: “I know funds are limited for everyone at the moment, but we really need to get the event off the ground and it could help kick-start wider development in the area.”
Dr Maxwell Winchester, a Shrewsbury and Shropshire councillor, said he backed the ideas. He said: “I’d love to see an entrance way to the town with food shops.
“It would be fabulous.”
By Sam Pinnington
UK News
Most Commented
- New look of Shrewsbury town centre revealed
- Letter: Nonsense on climate change
- Trapped! Shoppers stuck on car park for hours in snow
- Leader: Council prayer slot now being threatened
- Performance-related pay for Shropshire Council staff
- Leader: Sixty glorious years of much-loved Queen
- Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville snubbed over appearance fees
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
At last someone with new ideas for Shrewsbury.
Lets hope the powers that be have the sense to recognise initiative when they see it and back someone who has already put their money in to the town.
Shrewsbury Bakehouse is a fantastic addition to the town and a welcome relief from all the national chains dominating the high street.
Report abuse
Good to see some new worthwhile initiatives – revive a part of town and promote local producers in one.
Its time that area was revamped – hardly an inspiring “gateway” to the town at the moment – I wonder what people think when they come off the train !
Report abuse
What a brilliant idea, I am sure a lot of people love to see something like that.
It will be interesting to see what S.T.R.A. have to say about this one !
Report abuse
where will the cars go? BETTER IN THE SQUARE -no slope for OAPS to walk up and no traffic
Report abuse
i tell you what we need in there is a real proper chippy, you cant get more local than spuds and more traditional than that, im not against the greek kebab places etc but thats just not proper fish and chips and living in the town centre you have to go to Shire fryer or up to Harlescott even to get real proper chips
Lets have proper British Chips in town centre please not just snobby posh olives and artisan breads and expensive cheese and things
Report abuse
I quite agree a good chippy would be great!
Report abuse
Excellent idea. A ‘real’ butchers in the town like ‘the good old days’!! Fantastic.
Report abuse
Ang, you obviously never go to the covered market. There are at least four privately run ‘real’ butchers in there. Try Corbets sausages, they are excellent. Homemade and no crap inside.
Report abuse
what an excellent idea, i do hope local brewers will be displaying their excellent choices of bottled beers, also the shrewsbury sausage may be born. good luck to this venture it deserves to succeed
Report abuse
And who is going to subsidise the “low rents”? Just wait for the middle class foody lobby to ask for handouts from the council i.e. taxpayers.
Report abuse
How about the greedy landlords ?
Report abuse
and how long before the dreaded big store decides to start selling even cheaper to get rid of these small shops?
as they say every little helps
Report abuse
Quite interested to see if this idea actually happens…..I don’t know if this town can really sustain more Food businesses. We have so many markets, delis and supermarkets already established in the area. I agree the area does need revamping, but surely a mixture of retail outlets would be better?
The bazaars sound like a fantastic idea, but I do think the organisers need to make sure they have some different local producers. The markets in the square always feature the same businesses.
Report abuse
The council are happy to welcome “continental markets to our town – wonder if they will be so willing to support a local bazaar or might it really come down to the fact they won’t be able to charge their usual high fees to use the square?
I think I can guess the answer – not all is equal is it ? The “status quo” will be lining the pockets of the usual suspects.
Report abuse
I hope the local bazaar is supported, however I do feel we will see the same businesses from the market in the square being promoted and not the hundreds of other food suppliers.
I wouldn’t say the Square changes a huge amount, but in the current climate any discount would be great for businesses. I believe the council is currently looking into what markets take place in the Square because of complaints from the Market Hall.
People seem to forge how amazing the Market Hall is (on the inside). I think more needs to be done to grow the food producers we have rather than adding to the already saturated food retailers in this town.
Report abuse
Its about time Castle Gates got a look in – very dreary and down at heel feel at the moment
It should be helped and encouraged back to its glory days as a thriving market area of the town – you should read your history !!!
Report abuse
This is a great idea.
Report abuse
For the first time ever I find myself agreeing 100% with Mr Peach.
This is a great idea.
Anything that encourages small, local businesses should be applauded.
Report abuse
chips would be good , but FISH, local to land locked shropshire ??
Report abuse
Have you never tried goujons of Severn barbel in a Shropshire Blue Cheese sauce?
A surplus a few years ago led to a consignment being send as food aid to Ethiopia – they sent it back……
Report abuse
indeed you can get fresh water fish adam!
Report abuse
Wish I had’nt read this thread at lunchtime now, makes my baked spud and cottage cheese seems rather uninspired!
Report abuse
Sounds like a great idea – as long they follow the Shrewsbury tradition of charging through the nose to keep us Telford oiks out!!!
Report abuse
Well it is to be hoped
Report abuse
Perhaps the landlord(s) have finally realised that dropping rents is better than empty shops.
Having said that, I know of two traders that said high Business Rates were the main reason they went out of business in the last year or two.
Maybe this move will makes a difference. They can hang all the ‘Shop in the Loop’ banners they like, but it won’t mean a thing if there aren’t the shops people want to visit.
There are plenty of parking options around the town as well as service buses and the P&R. Or be radical – leave the car behind or park further out and walk a little way, it’s not a life-support machine.
Report abuse
Exactly – people seem to be obsessed with cars – the whole town would be better off with less cars and more public transport.
Report abuse
The business rates in this town do need reducing as they are currently set far too high. I would also suggest that the landlords and there agents start to realise how bad the trade actually is and reduce the rent.
Shrewsbury so lucky to have local independent traders, but we will soon loose all of them
Report abuse
Wow – this seems to have stirred a few minds – nice to see that people are actually interested in the topic.
Seems to me that variety is the key – surely we have room for “real fish and chips” and the snobby stuff – (whatever that is ;)
Report abuse
we should get some of that ludlow scene going on here, i cant believe a posh town like SY doesnt have a) a 5 star hotel or b) a michelen starred resteraunt
of course we also need the market for local fresh veg and cheap food for the poor but to really get going we need more top notch stuff like michellen chefs opening up here
Report abuse
6. Ang – For ‘real’ butchers you only have to go to the market hall. There are at least 5 quality butchers (and a decent fishmongers) trading there. I use them all the time. Doug Lewis on the Sutton Farm estate is also excellent. We have real butchers, you just have to look past the supermarkets and you’ll find them.
Report abuse
i couldnt agree more, why has none of the posters noticed, the indoor market hall though a horrible outside is amazing on the inside and full of all this posh nosh, local food you’re all discussing, get off the web and get down the market hall, we dont need a new load of foodie places in Shrewsbury we already have then they are just hidden in that concrete bunker, let them out!!! on the street markets outside there in that square where the horrid art is would be nice
Report abuse
Exactly what I was thinking jonboy. It all sounds like an attempt to kill the Market Hall or get the traders to relocate so those who hate the 1960s building can try to get it replaced.
Even if it was to be relocated the Market Hall has been crying out to be turned into modern apartments with amazing views from the upper floors.
Report abuse
people in shrewsbury want posh grub but when waitrose applied to take over a dilapitated burger king building on pride hill, guess who stopped it , yes the TCRA strikes again! so now town centre residents have to drive out of town to rubbish stores
we want high end food stuffs in the town centre, the out of town stores will suffice for basics, i’d like to see more resteraunts in town too, we have good italian, indian and thai but only one chinese which aint good, id like to see some other stuff too, yo sushi would be nice or maybe a mexican?
Report abuse
i think as a nation we spend too much on tourist attractions and culture and fluff, we need proper engineering jobs in manufacturing not cute feel good activities for retired people, this is not economically active you cant build a local economy on care homes and tourism!
Report abuse
Food is a bit more than ‘fluff’ and good food, like culture, feeds the imagination – for engineers as well as artists. We need both.
As a manufacturing location we have become expensive, all the engineering/manufacturing jobs are where the pay is much lower. Yet QC doesn’t suffer, Taiwan is a centre of excellence in metal engineering, for example.
There’s too much resting on laurels, bad management & bad attitude in the UK. The British m/cycle and bicycle industries is a classic example. In the 60s they laughed at the Japanese… until they built better bikes than our leaky rust-buckets. The malaise spread to many other areas. Bicycle companies, for example, get far better quality, efficiency and a can-do approach for lower cost in the Far East.
Report abuse
Spot on Simon – “bad management & bad attitude in the UK” unfortunately tends to sums us up at the moment as well as living in the past.
Shrewsbury is rapidly losing it. If I hear of another “Victorian” themed event I’ll scream !!
Report abuse
What a fantastic idea, so much nicer to buy food from a friendly retailer than a faceless superstore, hope the idea gets all the support it needs to go ahead.
Report abuse
Anyone know when the bazaars are starting ?
Report abuse
I believe the Council meeting this week referred the application to committee which doesn’t meet till September, so it looks like it won’t be for a while.
Report abuse
somebody mentioned chips, now if we could get the shrewsbury arm of the shropshire union canal reopened, we would have an abundance of fish plus that from the severn, rea brook and the rad brook.
frying tonight?
Report abuse
This sounds really encouraging.
Shropshire has wonderful produce, and it would be really good to visit Shrewsbury to purchase such goods. For my wife & I, it won’t totally replace visits to farm shops but it’s always nice to have a choice!
Report abuse
i love the idea of local food but as a vegetarian shropsire does little to cater for me, im not suggesting growing rice and chick peas in shropshire but some more vege options would be nice!
Report abuse