Preston's of Bolton to close

another famous and long standing store in Bolton is to close next week, what is happening to Bolton and in particular the town centre? 

It looks like Beirut on a a bad day every time i go back with more and more shops closing and being replaced with pound shops and the like opening in their place.

If you do have any spare cash get down to Prestons as they are selling everything off before they close

Bolton town centre as has been reported before is turning into a dumping ground. Soon there will be a shiny new market place surrounded by boarded up shops. I used to go to Alice's chippie across the road from there and when they closed they put up a notice slagging off the greedy bastards who were putting up their business rates making it impossible to stay profitable.
Putting up business rates is OK when the town centre is full of thriving businesses and people are queuing to take empty shops when they're available but when businesses are shutting down because it's dead and the only people coming in are discount shops, pawn brokers and bookies then maybe a different approach is needed on the basis that some business rates are better than no business rates.
I used to enjoy going for a mooch around the town centre and getting some lunch but now it is a thoroughly depressing experience.
That said will be in there over the weekend for the food festival which is always worth a visit.

I bought my wife her engagement ring ring from Prestons of Bolton in 1987 for the princely sum of £500. She has still got it today. It was always a popular jewellers and in it's heyday their adverts were always on TV. Another iconic Bolton landmark bites the dust. Sad really.

Good.

I bought some diamond earrings for Mrs B from Hatton Garden during a trip to London (and they weren't cheap) and she lost one of the backs.

We went into Prestons to source a replacement and the snobby twat behind the counter made me feel about two feet tall, as he appraised them, sniffed and then informed me that they couldn't help because they "only carried stock items for the more discerning client".

Well, "discern this", fucko......you're on the dole now.

Ha!

Bread2.0 wrote:Good.

I bought some diamond earrings for Mrs B from Hatton Garden during a trip to London (and they weren't cheap) and she lost one of the backs.

We went into Prestons to source a replacement and the snobby twat behind the counter made me feel about two feet tall, as he appraised them, sniffed and then informed me that they couldn't help because they "only carried stock items for the more discerning client".

Well, "discern this", fucko......you're on the dole now.

Ha!

not at all still bitter eh Breaders   Nice to see you back by the way, i was away when you rejoined

Bolton town centre has indeed turned into a shithole but even if it was improved there's no guarantee people would go flocking back there anyway, what with the popularity and convenience of online shopping and the numerous retail parks that offer free parking 7 days a week all year round. It's just not worth the bother anymore.

It's a bit grim at night time as well unfortunately. Used to be a good night not so long ago

It's not really closing down, it's moving and being rebranded.

Bolton's of Preston.

whatsgoingon wrote:Bolton town centre as has been reported before is turning into a dumping ground. Soon there will be a shiny new market place surrounded by boarded up shops. I used to go to Alice's chippie across the road from there and when they closed they put up a notice slagging off the greedy bastards who were putting up their business rates making it impossible to stay profitable.
Putting up business rates is OK when the town centre is full of thriving businesses and people are queuing to take empty shops when they're available but when businesses are shutting down because it's dead and the only people coming in are discount shops, pawn brokers and bookies then maybe a different approach is needed on the basis that some business rates are better than no business rates.
I used to enjoy going for a mooch around the town centre and getting some lunch but now it is a thoroughly depressing experience.
That said will be in there over the weekend for the food festival which is always worth a visit.

Business Rates are not set by Bolton Council but are set by Whitehall, Bolton Council only collect the rates on behalf of the Government and are allowed to keep 40% and send the rest back to Whitehall.

SO businesses closing means less income for Bolton Council which means that something has to give whether it be services they provide being reduced or closed or increasing the Council Tax.

Until Bolton Council can get to set their own Business Rates, which will be allowed to happen from either 2019 or 2020, then we are stuck in a situation where the council want to bring new businesses in but the business rates and the rents from the private landlords are hindering any recovery for the town.

We have had the same Business Rates since before the 2008 recession and are not due to be changed until at least 2018 - and that's the same for all councils in the UK.  Hence why businesses moving from Bolton to Bury, or other surrounding towns, due to far cheaper private rents and business rates, which make these towns for economic efficient to survive in than Bolton.

Of the shops that have announced closure in the last few weeks, or have closed.  How many of us have actually wandered in or even bought from either Whittakers/Beales, BHS or Prestons in the last 10+ year.

I know I haven't.  Lst time I went into Whittakers was when I was in my teens when they had the entertainment/electrical department in the basement for the CDs and cassette computer games for the C=64 and C=Amiga 500.  Whilst last time I bought anything in BHS was long before Philip Green had his grubby hands on the company and I can honestly say that the only time I went into Prestons was when I was a child with parents.

BHS went bus due to bad management whilst Prestons and Whittakers/Beales are closing basically due to lack of footfall, lack f people buying and high rents for the buildings they are in - they don't actually own the buildings as both companies did sell and rent backs during the 1990's.

Bolton was a thriving and appealing place to visit years ago. When the Trafford Centre came along and other out of town retail parks, Bolton Council did nothing. People were lured away over the coming years and still the council did nothing to arrest the decline. 
Bury did. Substantial investment was made in its town centre, both retail and accommodation. It's survived.
Bolton Council, late to the party, are reinventing part of the town once again. I hope it works, but fear it won't. 
The people who regularly shopped there have long gone and with long since empty shops, along with soon to be empty shops, the downward spiral may well continue.

King Bill wrote:Bolton was a thriving and appealing place to visit years ago. When the Trafford Centre came along and other out of town retail parks, Bolton Council did nothing. People were lured away over the coming years and still the council did nothing to arrest the decline. 
Bury did. Substantial investment was made in its town centre, both retail and accommodation. It's survived.
Bolton Council, late to the party, are reinventing part of the town once again. I hope it works, but fear it won't. 
The people who regularly shopped there have long gone and with long since empty shops, along with soon to be empty shops, the downward spiral may well continue.

Bury hasn't spent any money to be fair

It has all been private investment due to low price of land, businesses move there due to low rents from the private landlords and the low business rates (set by Whitehall) which have not changed since before the 2008 recession.

Even The Rock is not owned by Bury Council but a private company who rent out to businesses.

So, nobody invests in Bolton because of the expensive land prices, more expensive business rates and landlord rental fees ?

Sounds like politicians speel that. 

Well, at least the kebab shop is still open, opposite what used to be Prestons of Bolton.

Preston's is/was owned by the Duckworth family and I was at school with Neil and Andy but I believe Andy passed away a couple of years ago - Okocha will remember him as they were probably in the same year. Both seemed regular guys but it's true that they gave nothing away in "the diamond centre of the north" so they wouldn't have been short of a bob or two.

Just to put it into perspective about whether it's a Bolton problem or not Prestons Diamonds as they are now called operated 4 stores; Bolton, Guildford, Leeds and Wilmslow and Bolton is the only one closing.

The Duckworth family owned the business until it went into administration in 2015.  Lets not forget that when it went into administration they owed £3million and the majority was from their Bolton store - they had 7 stores when it went into administration.  They also tried to reform the company and renamed it Preston & Duckworth - now that a real success!!!

It was Cottrills of Wilmslow that bought the company from the administrators.  Over the last 11 years they have been extending and reforming their HQ Wilmslow store and even rebranded it to Prestons in 2012.

The strangest thing is that they own the building in Wilmslow and their other others in Guildford and Leeds are small stores in which they pay rent.  The rent on the Bolton building has probably become far too much and the store is losing money due to the rent and business rates (set by Whitehall), hence best option is to close the store and concentrate of their HQ building in Wilmslow, which is only a 30 minute drive away, and concentrate on their smaller stores which seem to be currently making a profit.

King Bill wrote:So, nobody invests in Bolton because of the expensive land prices, more expensive business rates and landlord rental fees ?

Sounds like politicians speel that. 

Well, at least the kebab shop is still open, opposite what used to be Prestons of Bolton.

Definitely not political speel, and to be fair I said nothing about expensive land prices!

Business rates are set by Whitehall and have not changed since 2006.  When Tories got to power in 2016 they put a freeze of hanging the Business Rates until 2019 when the local authorities take it over.

Rents - there are only about 5 retail units which are owned by the council and they are the small units attached to Octagon carpark.  For most landlords if they don't get the rent they want then it is actually better for them to have the buildings empty as they don't have to pay any rates or taxes.  The council cannot do anything about private landlords - they can suggest to them but at the end of the day it is up to the landlords as to what they want to do.  If the council was to compulsory purchase (CP) then there would be far many more residents in uproar due to the cost and court costs of CP thus wasting even more taxpayers money.  It is definitely a catch22 position

if you have some spare cash get down there now, up to 60% off and opens at 9.30 today.

Norpig wrote:if you have some spare cash get down there now, up to 60% off and opens at 9.30 today.

They'll only be shifting tat because all the best stuff will just be moved to their other 3 stores. They'll probably use it as an opportunity to shift crap from all 4 stores.

whatsgoingon wrote:

Norpig wrote:if you have some spare cash get down there now, up to 60% off and opens at 9.30 today.

They'll only be shifting tat because all the best stuff will just be moved to their other 3 stores. They'll probably use it as an opportunity to shift crap from all 4 stores.

Yep, and they'll probably be tapping into the reet market.