Altrincham Business Owner Reveals Sky High Business Rates

A shop owner in Altrincham has revealed his business rates are four times higher than those at his busier shop in Chester city centre.

Ben Molesworth, who owns an independent shop selling comics, vinyls and collectibles on George Street, has revealed his Altrincham business rates are four times higher at £16,000 than his shop in Chester, which is charged £4,200 annually. Located on Watergate Street, Ben says his Chester shop receives a much higher footfall than his Altrincham shop.

Mr Molesworth, owner of independent shop Soda, said:

"The thing I really want to do at the moment, but I'm not going to, is to just fill a big van and go and set up a nice shiny new shop in the middle of Manchester, where I will get three times the footfall for the same amount of money. I know that is what some of the other shops that have gone have done.

"I can see what the council are doing in terms of a long-term strategy, but that is going to come at such a cost to all the small and not so small businesses. They say they are sorting the parking out, they say they have a team working on, they say this is happening in 2020, but I've heard this all being discussed for the last two years."

Plans to build a mixed-use retail and housing development on the old JJB Sports and Superdrug site on George Street were unveiled earlier this year in a bid to transform the area.

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Collings

Commercial Solicitors