This week, our local ironmonger will close its doors — for ever. Thus ends a local service that has lasted for over a century — and a place where we have shopped, in the market town of Heathfield, for a quarter of that time. Heathfield Ironmongers, where you could buy almost everything you needed for home or garden, from a single nail upwards, was founded in 'by three like-minded men. My wife asked the current manager why they were closing, and was told that while the loss of banks in the East Sussex town, and Covid, had been a factor, the 'final nail' in their coffin had been Labour 's decision to reduce business rates relief for retailers and to raise employers' national insurance.
This is far from the only independent shop on our small High Street to have closed in the past few weeks. Others include Wanted on Voyage, which sold travel items, from suitcases to board games; Kiln Home, where we shopped for Christmas presents only last month, and the hairdresser I used opposite Sainsbury's — which has warned it would be shedding 3, jobs nationally.
The weekend's announcement from WHSmith that it was putting the for sale sign on all its High Street stores is the latest indication of British retailers' assessment of Rachel Reeves ' Budget. Heathfield Ironmongers, where you could buy almost everything you needed for home or garden, was founded in The shop had seven managers in its lifetime with the first being Mr William Phillips who ran the store from to And if well-resourced firms such as Sainsbury's and WHSmith are feeling like that, imagine how much more difficult it is for small, independent High Street stores without the same economies of scale.
During the general election they all proclaimed to local newspapers how they would revive our High Streets, especially because of the vital social role of small, independent family stores. Rayner bemoaned how the decline of the High Street 'after 14 years of the Tories ' had 'fractured communities' and that 'rejuvenating our High Street is incredibly important… we all went with our nans or our mums and dads on the High Street and it meant so much'.
Starmer also told us, during the election campaign: 'Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy, our communities and our High Streets. Our Plan for Change will drive economic growth across the country so small businesses can thrive. There was no plan. Worse, Labour invented a 'Tory black hole' in the finances in order to justify the swingeing increase in taxes on businesses — the exact opposite of what was in their manifesto.
