by : John Barber Hertford blog

Claydons gone

Looking back over these posts they all follow a similar pattern. One of closure, redundancy and retirement.

John and Judy Workman called in at Waitrose the other day and told my wife that they had retired.

John is better known incorrectly as John Claydon – the fishmonger. They had a shop – Claydons – in Railway Street for many, many years. they were a fixture in the town. A throwback to the old days of retailing where you sold produce from the window. Theirs was always half open so you could see the fish on display and choose your dinner.

On the first Fun Day I organised John set up a sea fish stall. So popular! Many locals had forgotten what simple pleasures you can get from life by eating cockles, mussels and whelks in the middle of town with a pint of local beer and a local band playing.

There was a period of uncertainty for a while when the shop lease was terminated. However they returned with a customised chiller trailer and continued to sell fish from the counter and became a similar fixture in Salisbury Square.

I had an electrical point placed near Cafe Nero so that the chiller would work. Some time later a power socket was placed by the Council outside the White Hart and there they traded on every Saturday – and on Fridays and Tuesdays in Ware as well.

They were happy days. A Town Centre Manager has to have his fingers and ears in many pies and I enjoyed John’s company and local knowledge which he dispensed from the front seat of his van. We also used to stand in the middle of Salisbury Square with Mick Wentworth who ran the fruit and veg stall and sometimes Colin Sykes the jeweller, and occasionally Charlie who ran Wigginton’s for Roy Roberts until he passed away.

They’ve all gone now. Hertford will be a quieter and sadder place now. No local colour, no local knowledge, no old men chewing over the gossip.

This is what some media people like to call the local business community. Perhaps they are right and I am cynical but it wasn’t that – it was just friends chatting, joined by the various traders and residents who walked by and had a few minutes to spare.

You don’t cultivate a local network by attending meetings about meetings and drinking tea in dark committee rooms. You have to get to get out there. That’s what I learned. I can’t do it any more – nor do I want to – because Hertford town centre is not like that any more.

I doubt if John or Judy will read this but I wish them a long, peaceful and healthy retirement.

So to end on a more topical note. I see that Which? has awarded Waitrose the top awards in the supermarket customer appreciation surveys.

Not the Hertford branch of Waitrose obviously because that will shortly ‘go dark’. But an ironic release considering that the day after it was announced that the Hertford, Waitrose store was set for closure the Consumers Association (Which?) stated that it was selling its Hertford site to Aldi to build a new supermarket.

Now we await publication of Wrenbridge’s planing application for the redevelopment of Bircherley Green Shopping Centre. It’s like London buses – they all come at once.

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Waitrose closing September 2017

That thud on the doormat was not the daily delivery of junk mail, nor the latest manuscript submission to a publisher rejected for the second or third time but the other boot finally falling.

That boot is of course the confirmed closure of Waitrose in Bircherley Green in September 2017. It was the only outcome of a process that began in 2014 and should surprise no one. It will of course. It will anger and outrage and ‘Disgusted of Hertford’ will fill the letters pages and message boards for weeks to come.

The Hertford store was always too small for a modern supermarket. It did not have space for all the products that fight for prominence elsewhere; it could not support a coffee bar, sushi bar or wine bar such as other Waitrose stores do. The lifts (nothing to do with the company) were frequently out of action and the car park (once beloved of East Herts Council and now in private hands) was a constant source of complaint. The toilets of course were unfit for human habitation. None of that was Waitrose fault or for the staff to repair.

They said in 2014 that the plans for Bircherley Green as designed and presented by Wrenbridge were not viable for their needs. Their stance never wavered. They wanted their own space, car parking on the flat and access routes.

Waitrose were outbid for the McMullen site that now houses Sainsburys. Despite being Planning Department’s preferred option for Ware the Council Executive plumped for Asda who most conveniently blocked the final application by Van Hages to extend their Ware Garden Centre to accommodate a food store (Waitrose never mentioned).

That site would have suited Waitrose. It would have meant that they could have doubled their floor space to about 26,000 sq ft, incorporated toilets and a cafe and offer parking on the flat. There would have been improved vehicle access for ‘click and collect’ and for the in house delivery teams to deliver orders.

Instead the people of Hertford signed petitions to plead with Waitrose to stay in Hertford even though they had constantly said they did not want to. Finally Asda broke cover and invoked the Green Belt. There are no lambs frolicking through the green grass amidst the piles of timber and paving slabs in Van Hages outdoor selling areas and no combine harvester with lights glaring moves silently at night to bring food to our tables.

The net result is that we have the worst of all worlds, especially if you are a Waitrose customer. No store in Hertford, no store in Ware, you may have to drive to Welwyn or Bishops Stortford and an uncertain future as to what kind of national chain will inhabit the space in the projected designs which will be presented by Wrenbridge shortly as part of the Bircherley Green redevelopment project.

It is often said: ‘be careful what you wish for’. This is what happens when you fail to read the big picture. It is unlikely that the Government will allow for any piece of Green Belt to be re-designated and for commercial building to take place on it. It is likely that it may occur for housing and given that the Gilston Garden Town, previously known as Harlow North will become a reality there ought to be somewhere for people to shop.

Perhaps more effort ought to have gone into persuading government advisors to allow for Van Hages to build on their Green Belt and we might then have a Waitrose supermarket close by with all the product ranges and facilities of a modern store. But this will not happen.

However there is a bright side in all this doom and gloom. When Waitrose finally closes its doors customers may buy their morning paper and Lottery ticket from the independent newsagent, their breakfast coffee from an independent coffee shop and get their dry cleaning done at an independent dry cleaners. Hertford still has a strong independent bias of which newsagents, coffee shops and dry cleaners make up a significant proportion.