Closing Trimgate Street businesses blame parking problems and banks

Five businesses on Navan's main shopping throughfare of Trimgate Street have closed in recent weeks while another is due to close. Coldricks Jewellers, Mr James men's clothes shop, Bruce Betting, The Gift Box and Macari's Take Away have all closed and their units are now vacant, while the Bargain Books store is also due to close. These follow the closure of the prominent premises occupied by Halifax Bank which shut at the end of June after the bank pulled out of the Irish market. Another prominent town centre business, Bookwise, which is located on Metges Lane, closed two weeks ago. Local businesses people have cited many reasons for the decline in business from poor footfall and lack of availability of parking, to the banks refusing to give credit, high rents and charges, and people simply not having money to spend. Michelle Coldrick, closed her Trimgate Street jewellers on 7th August, after trading for ten years on the street. However, she continues to trade at her second store MC2 which is located in Navan Shopping Centre. Ms Coldrick said there is no footfall on Trimgate Street and that years of neglect by the town council in not policing parking on the street was a major problem. She said a lot of parking spaces on the street were taken up from first thing in the morning until the evening by retailers and workers in the town and added that unless you were willing to give your name and address when you notified the council of long term parking, the council was not prepared to do anything. Ms Coldrick said her customers did not mind putting 50c or €1 in the meter if they could get parking adjacent to the shop but that long term parking meant it was impossible to get parking. She said that most of the empty units are on the same side of the street as her premises and feels that the council had never properly promoted the Fair Green for parking and could have enhanced the walkways and put up signposts to encourage people to park there. "The town council would send rates demands but they are not doing anything to enhance or safeguard businesses," she said. "There has been a steady drip in business in the last couple of years. It was a very difficult decision to take. Personally I saw the main street premises as my flagship store or signature store and it was my first one." Ms Coldrick said there were also security issues after they experienced an armed raid earlier in the year. In the shopping centre they not only have a much better footfall, but there are also security men on duty. "We closed on Saturday 7th August. It was very sad and emotional. A huge amount of people called to wish us well. We had fantastic loyal customers and built up many friendships. I would like to thank our customers for their support and friendship over the years," said Ms Coldrick. Another local businessman Peter Gleeson who once employed 41 people at Homeworld, also closed his Gift Box unit on Trimgate Street earlier this month, with the loss of three full time and two part time jobs. A retailer for 35 years, Mr Gleeson said he had seen bad times, but "nothing like this". "It is not that the street is bad. People have no money and they are stretched with the pressure of car loans, mortgages and credit cards being maxed out. They are petrified of losing their job and are saving what they have for what is around the corner. People are in a state of fear." Mr Gleeson said he saw the recession start in October 2005 when his turnover dropped by a million euro at Homeworld. "I was paying €250,000 a year in rent which is big money and another €50,000 in rates, insurance and service charges. The problem was that I was facing a rent review and I took the easy option and decided to close down." In December 2007, Mr Gleeson rented an 800 square feet unit in the shopping centre trading as the Gift Box where the rent was €90,000 per year. His projected turnover for 2007-08 collapsed by 50 per cent and he took the decision to return the unit. Earlier this year, Mr Gleeson took a short term lease on Francis Deane's former unit on Trimgate Street but said he knew within a month that it was not going to work. His projected take in was €4,000 per week but this dropped to just €2,000. Mr Gleeson said he applied for a €50,000 stock loan in February and had plenty of collateral and had been with the bank for 15 years but was refused. "I couldn't buy stock and if you have no stock you can't make a profit. Once they turned me down I knew I was out of business. They closed me down," said Mr Gleeson adding that the bank had €27m turnover from him between 1999 and 2007. "I paid every penny I owed and interest but they just refused," he said. Mr Gleeson also said that business on Metges Lane had been decimated. He pointed out that if the self employed were on the live register, there would be 30,000 to 40,000 more. "I am absolutely shocked at how bad retailing is and the attitude of the banks is that they won't give money to anybody. I have seen bad times but never anything like this. People are only paying for essentials, they are not spending," he said. "I opened in February and knew within a month that it wouldn't work. People don't have the money. Rents are also going to have to come back. They are back 30 per cent but they need to be back 50-60 per cent," said Mr Gleeson. Meanwhile, Cllr Tommy Reilly, also a businessman in the town, has said that the council needs to look at parking charges on Trimgate Street to encourage more people to shop there. "The council has to look at parking charges on Trimgate Street in light of the present circumstances. Saturday is completely dead. The council is going to have to look at doing away with parking charges or to give two hours free parking on Saturdays." "Word on the street is that businesses are finding it very tough. The town council is going to find that when the rates are not coming in. Cllr Reilly also said that the Chamber of Commerce and traders need to come together to do something to promote the street more. He also pointed out that businesses are facing massive bills for water rates, as well as rents, the banks, ESB and the parking charges. He said he did not want to see Navan become like Dundalk where there are 18 or 19 shops closed on the main street. He also said that a problem for businesses is that they are not allowed to put out sandwich boards at their door and that there is very strong enforcement by Navan Town Council. "We don't want the street littered with sandwich boards but it would be a help to businesses but the council doesn't allow them." Trimgate Street leads on to Market Square where there are also a number of empty units. The former Central Hotel, ACC Bank, the Meath Chronicle shop and the former Spicer's premises are all high profile units that are empty.