New business sought to rent out One Stop unit

March 07 2019
New business sought to rent out One Stop unit

A new business is being sought to move into a St Peter’s store unit which will be vacated when the current business running there closes.

One Stop at Abbotsbury Court will shut its doors this summer, a decision confirmed last autumn.

The imminent closure has also made the future of Post Office services run from the premises uncertain.

Birmingham-based Creative Retail property consultants have erected a sign at Abbotsbury Court saying the shop is to let subject to vacant possession.

The particulars describe the premises as “an open-plan retail unit which benefits from a full-height glazed frontage and from staff facilities to the rear”, with “ample customer car parking to the front of the unit and a rear service area”.

They add that it benefits from “good visibility from St Peter’s Drive”.

Creative Retail says the premises are to be made available by way of a new full repairing and insuring lease for a term of years to be agreed, subject to five-yearly upward only rent reviews.

Rent will be £32,500 per year exclusive of rates, service charge and VAT, with the current service charge around £5,000.

A One Stop press spokesperson did not confirm a closure date for the Abbotsbury Court store, saying only:  “We can confirm that we have taken the difficult decision to close our St Peter's One Stop store in Worcester.

“This was not a decision that was taken lightly and our priority is to explain to colleagues what this announcement means for them and, wherever possible, we will offer them alternative roles with One Stop.

“We would like to thank all our customers who have shopped in our store.”

A Post Office spokesperson said that when the One Stop store closed “the premises will no longer be available for Post Office use”.

They added that the company understood “how important post offices are to community”, adding that it was “working hard” to try and provide a post office in the area.

The issue had been compounded by the closure during February of the post office in London Road.

The vacancies at both post offices were being advertised on the www.runapostoffice.co.uk website.

Any retailer or small business owner interested in running a post office and incorporating it into their business is invited to visit the website or email NTquestions@postoffice.co.uk.