Latest news with #BridgeStreet
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Manchester bar's opening hours cut after brawl with metal bars
A bar where a brawl broke out outside involving a baseball bat and metal bars can stay open with restrictions, a council meeting shows a man, who was allegedly asked to leave Bar 11 in Manchester but refused to move from its entrance, apparently make a call before a car arrived with a passenger threatening staff with the bat, police told a licensing heard the designated premises supervisor (DPS) of the Bridge Street venue picked up a metal stand "to defend himself" and, along with two workers, followed the man holding a bat as he returned to the DPS then smashed its windows during the 7 July incident, prompting the city's council to dismiss him from the post. Councillors said they considered cancelling the bar's licence but have instead decided to restrict its opening hours and alcohol sales. Barbara Gora, who is legal adviser to the licensing panel, said it understood "the need to defend themselves but it was clear they lost control"."Instead of seeing if customers were safe inside, they pursued them and smashed the vehicle, putting other road users in danger."She said the bar had "not previously come to the attention of police" and she was disappointed the DPS did not attend the bar will not be able to open until it has a new DPS and licensed door staff, the Local Democracy Reporting Service men, aged 38 and 41, have been charged with offences including affray, possession of an offensive weapon in public place and assault. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Sun
20-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Bargain UK retail chain with 700 stores is shutting doors to ‘super' branch for good in just HOURS
ONE OF Britain's favourite budget chains is shuttering a popular branch for good in just a few hours. The bargain retailer has more than 700 stores across the country, and shoppers are gutted to see more branches close. 2 2 Poundland is closing even more stores across the UK, with some closing in a matter of hours. One of these is the Stratford store on Bridge Street, which is set to shut tomorrow. Shoppers in Stratford were devastated to see the shop close, and some even took to social media to express their dismay. One gutted shopper said: " another one! "Won't be much left on Bridge Street at this rate." Another customer raised concerns about the 'super' shopping assistants: "The staff are super in that store, I hope they find jobs quickly." A third responded: "Another empty unit! Sad!" One angry resident slammed the area as a "ghost town" following the closure: "Stratford for shopping went down the pan years ago, this just adds to the ghost town it's becoming." Other shoppers simply put 'shocked' emojis. The store was taken on by the Gordon Brothers in 2025 and announced that a few sites would be closed during a major reshuffle. Poundland to be sold for JUST £1 as frontrunner for shock takeover is revealed after wave of store closures However, the Bridge Street branch closure was not initially part of the wave of closures. The store is being forced to close after the company failed to reach a deal to stay at the location. A spokesperson for Poundland said: 'Poundland expects to have a store network of around 650-700 stores in the UK & Ireland compared to around 800 today which includes combining two locations into one, where we're able. 'While that remains a very sizable number of stores, we know how disappointing it is for customers when a location like Stratford stops trading, and we look forward to welcoming customers to our close-by Retail Park store. They explained that the Stratford store was not one of those and neither was the shop at the Maybird Shopping Centre, but its closure was related to not being able to agree terms that would allow them to keep trading there. The spokesperson added: 'We're obviously disappointed we haven't been able to agree terms that would allow us to keep the store open. "It goes without saying that we are formally consulting with colleagues at the store and that work is underway.' Unfortunately for Poundland fans, the Stratford branch isn't the only store in the firing line. Port Glasgow follows suit on August 10, and Whitby will shut for good on September 3. A closing-down sale is now underway at the Newark store, while signs announcing the closure have appeared at the Pontypool branch, which will shut on September 7. The Merry Hill store in Dudley already shut its doors on July 18, followed by the Telford branch yesterday. Poundland is set to close its Cowes branch on the Isle of Wight on July 30, with its Newquay shop set to close on August 1. The closures are part of a major overhaul after the retailer was bought by Gordon Brothers for just £1 earlier this year. The bargain chain has said up to 68 stores will close, with another 150 at risk as it cuts down from nearly 800 sites. Plans include scrapping frozen food sections, removing online shopping, and increasing womenswear and seasonal ranges. Seventeen shops have already shut since March 2024, including locations in Maidenhead, Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction. Once the closures are complete, the company expects to operate between 650 and 700 stores. The Polish-owned Pepco Group had previously run Poundland since 2016, but auctioned it off in March. Shoppers have flocked to stores offering big closing-down discounts, picking up bargains before the shutters come down. Customers are being urged to check whether their local branch is affected as closures continue into September. A total of 24 stores will shut once the remaining closures have taken place: Connswater Shopping Centre, Belfast – closed March 2024 Macclesfield – closed August, 2024 Maidenhead – closed October, 2024 Sutton Coldfield – closed October, 2024 Clapham Junction Station, London – closed May 2 Belle Vale Shopping Centre, Liverpool – closed May 6 St George's Centre, Gravesend – closed May 8 Southwark Park Road – closed May 14 Copdock Mill Interchange, Ipswich – closed May 20 Newport, Wales – closed May 24 Chiswick High Road – closed May 28 Filton Abbeywood – closed May 31 Surrey Quays – closed June 11 Barrow Dalton Road - closed June 12 Union Gate, Bristol - closed June 20 Flint - closed June 21 Colchester - closed St Marks Place Newark - unknown Telford - closed July 1 Stratford-upon-Avon - July 21 Newquay - closing July 30 Cowes, Isle of Wight – closing July 30 Newquay - August 1 Whitby - September 3 Pontypool - September 7 Inverclyde - unknown Barry Williams, managing director of Poundland said: 'It's no secret that we have much work to do to get Poundland back on track. "While Poundland remains a strong brand, serving 20m-plus shoppers each year, our performance for a significant period has fallen short of our high standards and action is needed to enable the business to return to growth. 'It's sincerely regrettable that this plan includes the closure of stores and distribution centres, but it's necessary if we're to achieve our goal of securing the future of thousands of jobs and hundreds of stores. "It goes without saying that if our plans are approved, we will do all we can to support colleagues who will be directly affected by the changes.' RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Council agree to sell former TK Maxx building in Peterborough
A council said it hoped a former TK Maxx building could be turned into a mixed residential and commercial City Council's cabinet members agreed to sell the Bridge Street building at a meeting on 15 July, as it was "no longer economically viable".It was bought by the local authority for £4.1m in 2020 with the aim of using it for a £15m community hub project known as The Vine.A feasibility commissioned by Tetra Tech in July 2022 said the cost of the necessary works was about £10.8m, making the project no longer viable. A marketing exercise to sell the vacant four-storey building will conclude in the Thulbourn, the council's cabinet member for growth and regeneration, told the meeting on 15 July, "62-68 Bridge Street is a prominent city centre site with development potential currently underutilised". Open to offers Adrian Chapman, the executive director of place and economy at the authority, said: "We should be proud of this site. At the moment it is difficult to be because the building is a slug of a building."I imagine it with something on there which is iconic in style and nature and is a real gateway into our city centre."He added: "This is a really significant site in our city centre and a site that deserves a building upon it which is of some significance, of quality and offers real value to the High Street."It's seen as part of our wider regeneration programme for the city centre."The building will go on the open market and the authority is open to all offers including development Local Democracy Reporting Service said before going out for informal tender the local authority had to pay for marketing fees (£15,000), a development brief (£10,000), surveys (£10,000) and legal fees (£5,000).Following the marketing of the building other costs would include, agent disposal fees (highest of 1.5% of sale price or £40,000), legal fees (highest of 1% of purchase price or £35,000) and a section 123 best consideration valuation – RICS Registered Valuer (£10,000).The council said it would achieve value for money by appointing professional advisers through a national local authority framework. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Guatemalan Grammy winner is playing in Springfield this week
SPRINGFIELD — For those who want to hear an early taste of what this weekend's Jazz and Roots Festival has to offer, the Hope Center for the Arts on Bridge Street will host Grammy-winning Guatemalan singer Gaby Moreno on Thursday night. Mercedes Escobar, a country-blues singer also from Guatemala, will join her. The show, for which tickets can be reserved for free online, will begin at 7 p.m. Moreno, who was born and raised in Guatemala, mixes her Latin roots with soul, blues and jazz inspirations. She has released nine albums and has been nominated for three Grammys, winning one. She was nominated in 2017 for Best Latin Pop Album for 'Ilusión,' in 2023 for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album for 'Alegoria,' and finally, earned her first Grammy Award in 2024 for Best Latin Pop Album for 'X Mi (Vol. 1).' Moreno also has earned two Latin Grammys: the Best New Artist Award in 2013 and Best Traditional Tropical Album in 2023. In addition to her album accolades, Moreno's music has appeared in TV and film, including 'Parks and Recreation' and 'Orange is The New Black.' She also wrote 'A Song in My Heart' for the 2022 movie 'The Valet,' for which she was nominated for a Guild of Music Supervisors Award alongside the likes of Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Tickets to Thursday's show at the Hope Center for the Arts can be reserved online for free, though a donation of $25 is suggested to support the Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival. Premiere seating, with a reserved spot in the first three rows, can be purchased for $35. The Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival continues Friday at 7 p.m. with the Jo Sallins Experience, also at the Hope Center for the Arts, before kicking off on Saturday at noon with a day of live music in downtown Springfield. For more information about the festival and for a complete lineup of this year's music acts, go online to Read the original article on MassLive.
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Former TK Maxx building in Peterborough set to go on the market
A building that used to house TK Maxx and New Look and had been earmarked as a community space is set to be City Council's cabinet has been asked to approve plans to put the Bridge Street building on the authority bought it in August 2020 using £4.1m of Towns Fund money, with the aim of using it for a community hub known as The the council then decided it would not be economically viable to house The Vine in the building, which would have included a library, learning and cultural facilities and a commercial space. Instead, the project will be spread across three sites in the city: a library and a learning and cultural space at the Central Library; a food and drinks hall at The Goods Shed in Fletton Quays; and a business start-up incubator at Peterscourt, City Thulbourn, cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said the Bridge Street site was a "significant gateway into our city centre".He said the council would be open to all offers on the building, but he hoped it would end up as a mix of commercial and residential use."It is an important site and one we must get right, to breathe new life into this part of our city centre and enhance the overall experience for people," he cabinet will vote on the plans on 15 July. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
