One of the few remaining independent hardware stores in the area is set to close after 35 years, and a planning application to turn the property into a takeaway is winding its way before councillors.
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Portswood Hardware on Portswood Road will close due to lack of trade, confirmed co-owner Louise Fryett, pictured below.
“Basically we’re just too quiet. Nobody’s using us,” she said.
“We lost a lot of trade to Sainsbury’s and Poundland, and Covid didn’t help us a lot. It made everybody buy online. And everybody’s stuck to it.”
Although she said there’s no firm date yet for the shop closure, they’re “hoping it will be before Christmas”.
“It’s very sad. It is very sad after all this time. But these things happen. We’ve got to move on,” she said.
She added that a planning application that goes before the council’s planning and rights of way panel on August 27 is not related to the hardware business, and the lease has now been sold to new owners.
The application seeks to add an extension to the rear of the premises so they can be turned into a new takeaway restaurant. However there’s some controversy around potential access to the Mencap centre, which is also accessed at the rear, off a service road.
More on this planning application on bitternepark.info here.
