Derbyshire Times news bulletin 13th September

Derbyshire Times news bulletin with editor Phil Bramley

Transcript

00:00 Here's today's Derbyshire Times video bulletin.

00:03 Overwhelming interest from potential buyers will see Chesterfield's iconic Ayres Furniture

00:08 Store building go to the highest bidder this week.

00:12 The Holywall Street premises went on the market for £650,000 in July, just over a year after

00:18 the store shut its doors for the last time.

00:21 Commercial property agency Innis England has confirmed that the huge interest in the premises

00:26 will result in the sale going to the best bids on Friday at noon.

00:30 Nick Hoskin, who is director at Innis England and is handling the sale said "It's no

00:35 surprise that interest has been so high.

00:37 The Ayres Furniture business has been a well-known feature in Chesterfield Centre for longer

00:41 than anyone can remember.

00:43 The building is a prominent landmark, offering large footplates with potential for a variety

00:48 of uses and is well located in the heart of the town.

00:51 The premises have the potential for a wide range of purposes if the proper investment

00:56 is put in, with the space itself being well suited for uses such as retail, healthcare,

01:01 a restaurant, office or even residential apartments.

01:06 The town centre business owed millions of pounds to staff, customers, the banks and

01:09 HMRC when it closed down in April 2022 after 147 years of trading in the town.

01:18 A coffee house chain is set to open a new business in Chesterfield, replacing Pizza

01:22 Pie.

01:24 Company number one will be moving to Vicar Lane and is seeking staff to fill the roles

01:27 of store manager and assistant store manager for its upcoming location.

01:32 This comes after Pizza Pie Ltd, the company that owns Pizza Pie, entered liquidation in

01:36 June but told the Derbyshire Times the restaurant would remain open after it was bought by a

01:40 different company.

01:42 Ricky Marples, who used to own Pizza Pie Pizzeria Ltd, said at the time that the restaurant

01:47 had been bought by Infinity Pizza Ltd and would remain open while the former team would

01:50 run the venue.

01:52 Ricky added this week "We've got a few venues that we are halfway in the process

01:56 of finalising.

01:57 We're not sure we're going to have a venue open by the time this one shuts but we're

02:00 working on that.

02:01 We have a good reputation, a good brand and there are plenty of landlords that want us."

02:07 Cafe Number One, which is majority owned by Cafe Nero, said it hopes to open its Chesterfield

02:11 branch later this year, creating around 10 jobs.