Malton set for shopping boost (From Gazette & Herald)

Malton set for shopping boost

MIXED fortunes for Malton shops has seen a traditional sweet shop saved, while two prime units on Wheelgate have stood fire-ravaged for a second year.

The Fitzwilliam Estate, which owns the shops, is proud of helping Mennells in St Michael's Street to survive after 78 years trading.

Only 12 months ago, manager Mrs Wheater, daughter of the shop's founder, retired without a successor.

The estate launched a campaign to find a new manager, and a refurbished store was opened in June by Sharon Smallwood.

"Christmas trading has been fantastic and is the icing on the cake to a brilliant first six months in business," said Sharon.

"I'd like to thank everyone in the town for their support."

Roddy Bushell, the Fitzwilliam Estate manager, said: "Malton has been fortunate to have enjoyed so many years with Mennells sweet shop, whereas in most towns traditional confectioners have long since disappeared from the high street.

''Sharon's success has helped revitalize one of the many unique retail outlets which make Malton so special."

But at 44-46 Wheelgate, the picture is very different.

The shops were two of three buildings ravaged by fire in 2003. While 42 Wheelgate - Dales Greengrocers - was refurbished, the others have been left for more than two years.

Mr Bushell said that, following the fire, the estate wanted to create one larger shop unit in order to make the property more attractive to retailers. However, access land at the rear of the buildings is needed, and negotiations with the landowners have proved slow.

But the estate hopes to buy the land in the next few weeks.

Mr Bushell said: "I share people's frustrations with the apparent lack of visible action over the fire-damaged properties.

''Behind the scenes, I can assure everyone that we have been working extremely hard to sort things out.

"Our work in aiming to create one larger shop unit at the property is, in our view, the right thing to do to meet the retail needs of the town.

''Retail trends show that small units - in the case of 44-46 Wheelgate, based on a design done in 1911 - are not attractive to today's modern retailers.

''The market now requires modern, larger, shop units as shown in the case of Ethel Austin further down Wheelgate."

Updated: 16:08 Wednesday, January 11, 2006