Concerns have been raised for the future of Huddersfield town centre after a number of high profile stores have shut their doors for the final time.
Forming part of their closures across the UK, WHSmith has announced they will be closing down the store inside the Piazza Shopping Centre in Huddersfield. This follows other prominent shop closures over the past few months and years.
Freddie’s in the town centre has also announced it will be closing its doors as the town centre lost other big name stores like Wilko and B&M.
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Now, local councillors have shared their concerns about the future of the town centre amid all the closures. Councillor Andrew Cooper, who represents the area on Kirklees Council, said it was “sad to see” the closure, particularly following on from other stores in the town also closing their doors.
He added: “I am concerned for the future of Huddersfield Town Centre, and what I do want to do is actually talk up some of the great businesses that there are in the town centre. People often talk down the town centre, and yes, there will be things which I’m concerned about, but there remain good businesses there which need supporting and need promoting.”
Councillor Cooper pointed towards Boots as one business which the town centre needed to retain, before adding: “I’m quite keen to find out what the council is doing to ensure that we retain the Boots in the town centre.”
As for WHSmith, the store is closing when its lease runs out, as the company has chosen not to renew it. In a statement, they said: “It is no longer sustainable to continue to trade from this location and the decision has been taken to close the store as a result of the forthcoming lease expiry.
“We are disappointed to be losing our presence in this location and we would like to thank all our customers for their support and for shopping with us. We are also extremely grateful for the commitment of our in-store colleagues who we will support with this transition and redeploy to nearby stores, where possible.”
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Ward Councillor Susan Lee-Richards said she believed more work needed to be done by the council to protect the town centre, but added there was not much more that could be done to keep a shop in place when it is in a property owned by a private landlord.
She said: “It obviously is out of the council’s hands what those private landlords choose to do. I mean, nationally, I think it would help if things were done to improve the high street because they are competing against a lot of online companies.”
However, with WHSmith closing, Councillor Lee-Richards does have concerns about the state of the town centre. She said: “It’s always worrying to see local jobs going.”
Councillor Lee-Richards added: “I’m obviously very sorry to see an anchor business in the town centre closing. I did talk to some of the staff and they told me the lease was ending and WHSmith had decided to relocate.”
In terms of what action needs to be taken, Councillor Cooper said he had spoken with the council, but had not heard any detailed response about their strategy for keeping businesses in the centre of town. He added: “I’d like to see the Labour cabinet doing a bit more to ensure that we do retain as much of the town centre as we can and actually have a plan to revive it.
“Not just as part of the cultural heart, but more widely looking at the town centre and existing businesses and ensuring that we can do what we can to promote them and help them thrive.”
David Shepherd, Strategic Director for Growth & Regeneration, Kirklees Council, said: “Our plans for Our Cultural Heart and what that means for the existing Piazza units have been in place for several years now. Whilst we are disappointed to hear that WHSmith will no longer have a retail store in Huddersfield town centre, we understand that they are moving away from traditional town centre locations and must make decisions based on their business needs.
“We want to retain high quality retail in Huddersfield and have welcomed talks with businesses with a view to retaining a presence within the town centre. Unfortunately, in this case, it is not possible.
“These are exciting times for Huddersfield, and we are confident that the plans for Our Cultural Heart will kick start a prosperous new era for the town centre and will increase the number of visitors, create new job opportunities, support existing businesses and create more opportunities for economic growth and investment.”