NEWBY TO SITE - HELP REQUIRED

[PEMBERTON]

Hi Everyone.
I'm Steve, a self-employed retail butcher. I went into the family business (my father had set-up in 1969) when I left school at 16 and have been there ever since (some few years LOL).

I was surfing the net for advice on how to sell our business (not trying to plug it here - please read on and you'll understand what I mean) and I came across this site.

Our shop has been on the market some 10 months now and as you can imagine Butchers' shops are NOT selling! Had loads of enquiries for chinese and indian takeaways, fish and chip shops, cafe's, and restaurants but nothing else. The shop has A1 use and is on a parade of 5 other shops within a residential estate. The only a3 shop was closed down some 18 months ago as the tenants had by-passed the electricity and were growing illegal drugs there. Since then the takeaway has been empty (word has it the council had received 2 years rent upfront). The council won't grant another a3 use on the block so locals (a disabled bungalow estate) have to travel for a takeaway. Other parades of shops within the area have multiple A3 shops but the council have told us not to bother applying for a3 as it would be refused. We also purchased our 125 year lease 6 weeks after our neighbour (he purchased freehold) and we have been told by the council the freehold sale was an error.

Now having some major frustration - does anyone out ther have any advise please ?


Thanks in advance.

[Jayne]

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the forum.

I have a bakery which we are selling at the min. If I can help at all, just PM me :D

Jayne

[Jayne]

Hi,

I've sent you 2 PM's back. If you go to the top of the page where is says private messages, you can read them by clicking that :D

Just letting you know, it took me a while to figure it all out too.

Jayne :D

[Magsite]

My advice is go for A3 planning consent. The local planning department can't just turn down an application without reasonable justification, more so if theres not an a3 nearby. You can also appeal against a decision.

Otherwise try sending your particulars to

TransBritania Property
31 West Drive
Harrow Wield
London

They buy small shops.

[PEMBERTON]

Hi Guys

Thanks for your responses. Will try both suggestions.

Update on the council :-

Found out yesterday that the council now want to sell off the closed down chinese - yes freehold ! - so it looks like they won't want some competition to block their sale.


Diane

[D & J BOOKKEEPING SER]

hi there hopefully someone on here might no someone who will buy it from you

why do you want to sell up for is the main question a lot of potential buyers will be asking these kind of questions

was the business very profitable

Have you got all the financial statements to prove to how profitable the company was

have you ever tried selling it on ebay

[PEMBERTON]

Hi there. Thanks for your reply.
The business is joint owned by my husband and father-in-law. Father-in-law now wants to retire and we are emigrating to Australia this summer. The business is profitable but as soon as someone sees the trade 'butchers' they tend to switch off - I obtained some figures from mlc.org.uk stating butchers shops in the uk were at 21,000 25 years ago, 12,000 10 years ago and at 7400 in 2003/2004. They are closing at a rate of approx 400 a year and over 80% of meat is now sold through supermarkets.

This information we are trying to get to the council but so far they have ignored 6 phone calls and 3 letters from our estate agent. We have also written a letter and through a couple of telephone conversations I had with them last summer, their response was 'don't even bother to apply for alternative planning as this would be refused'.

Those butchers that are open mainly trade through reputation and loyal customers. This type of business succeeds usually through the business being passed down through the family, this also eliminates the requirement to purchase an alternative retail shop. We have advertised the business on e-bay last week and have had a good response - now just waiting to see how many want to view.

The business did get sold last year, twice - once to a cash buyer who then wanted to drop the price another £20,000 at the eleventh hour - saying he couldn't raise the full amount - although we had given him a big discount already for a quick completion. Then the 2nd buyer wanted it to go into his pension fund. He was a business man who we now cannot trace in the UK !.

As you can see, we are tired of timewasters and would give serious consideration to all offers received by a genuine buyer.

Anyone with some spare cah in their back pocket - please give us a call ! ! :-)

Kind regards.


Diane

[D & J BOOKKEEPING SER]

where are you based and how much you lookin i might know a couple of potential clients couple are looking for new businesses

if you let me know what area or giveme ebay number i will pass these details on to them

[Jayne]

I know two butchers near us, that just changed to a sandwich shop. The same planning covers both sort of shops. Plus if a Chinese does open up, the council cannot stop the change of use on your shop then.

Check with planning dept, ours says that you don't need different planning for sandwiched to meat.

Jayne :D