As the latest retail industry figures show a sharp slowdown in non-food retail sales, we take a look at the problems one High Street in Rotherham is facing.
There’s an early morning bustle at Fitzwilliam & Hughes, a Rotherham cafe over-looking the Minster and its gardens.
It’s a corner plot in a listed building, it feels like a choice spot, but co-owner Matthew Leather is glum about the town.
“So many businesses have come and gone in the three or four years we’ve been here. There isn’t the footfall or the attractions in Rotherham so they’ve not been able to last. If I didn’t have a business in Rotherham I wouldn’t come because there’s nothing to attract you.”
Rotherham Borough Council says it’s working on that. A masterplan includes a new area called Forge Island with bars, restaurants, apartments and a cinema down by the river and construction has started on a new university campus.
The council’s regeneration director Damien Wilson says it’s aiming to bring, “more investment and more people living, working and socialising in the town centre – it’s a long-term plan.”
Rotherham Politics 
Rotherham Town Centre is dead. Killed by RMBC and their stupid refusal to introduce free parking and a STRONG security presence in town. There’s no specific shops to visit, no events worth attending, nothing to see or do, it’s dirty, full of undesirables and it’s an INTIMIDATING place to visit.
Parking at Meadowhall and Parkgate is free and I don’t feel like I’m going to be mugged or stabbed at either of those places.
Everyone RMBC officer involved in the town centre and its demise should be SACKED.
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