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A hairdresser’s in Yate is marking 10 years of scissor happy cuts at trim prices.
LA Barber opened on South Parade, in Yate Shopping Centre, on February 28, 2004.
The no appointment salon was unique at the time, although many budget hairdressers have since followed suit, and was started by Lesley Didsbury.
With walk-in cuts and styling, the salon has gone from just two employees to now having six stylists and two apprentices.
Mrs Didsbury, who has another salon in Chippenham, said: “It has been great, the time has absolutely flown by.
“Having no appointments has worked really well, it means we can do far more people and most people love the fact they can just drop in. Busy mums especially love it.
“It was quite unique when we opened and has been why the salon has worked.”
She added: “With six stylists on a Saturday we can do around 40 people each.
“We started the apprenticeship scheme three years ago and that has gone really well too, we have put quite a few young people through now.”
LA Barber will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a week-long 10 per cent discount on all cuts, treats for all customers and a big staff party.
YATE’S Cancer Research UK shop will be closing for a week at the end of this month.
The charity shop, on South Walk in Yate Shopping Centre will close for a refurbishment on Friday, February 28.
The shop is being refitted and will reopen on Monday, March 10 (9am). Thornbury and Yate MP Steve Webb will officially reopen the new shop which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.
In October, the shop marked a quarter of a century in Yate after opening under the name Imperial Cancer in 1998. The charity merged with Cancer Champion to become Cancer Research UK and has raised £2.4million in its history.
Christmas trading at Yate Shopping Centre was ‘excellent’ with annual footfall increases of nearly 6% in November and over 5% in December.
Furthermore 2014 has kicked off with Anytime Fitness opening this week and work due to start shortly on the fit-out of Bottelinos new restaurant in North Parade.
Andrew Lowrey, Shopping Centre Manager, said: “It’s good to be able to report excellent trading figures for the Christmas period especially as there seems to be a mixed bag of results being reported by national operators and other centres.
“In the year ahead we will be looking to build on this success and already Anytime Fitness has opened its doors for trading in the former nightclub on East Walk. We are hoping to have Bottelinos open by early Spring, enhancing the centre’s northern frontage.
“Obviously 2014 is going to be an important year for the Centre as we hope to make real progress on the cinema development adjacent to the Link Road overflow car park. We anticipate the planning application will go before a planning committee by Easter but it’s important that people who support these proposals ensure their comments are submitted to South Gloucestershire Council as soon as possible, details of which are on the Centre’s website.
“We are talking to several potential new national tenants as a result of last year’s marketing campaigns and the exposure and success Yate Shopping Centre enjoyed and received as a finalist at the British Council of Shopping Centres, Gold Awards 2013.
“These Awards recognised the changes that have been put in place by the owners over recent years to expand and enhance the retailing experience. By attracting these new tenants we will be continuing to address and fill the gaps in the Centre’s existing offer. They would occupy the proposed new retail units adjoining the cinema or could move into any reconfigured units within the existing Centre.”
Yate Shopping Centre figurehead, Mark Hull, has just returned from a gruelling five-day cycling trip through Jordan in which he helped raise over £15,000 for the Big Heart Bike Challenge.
Mark, who is Group Property Controller of Englander Group – owners of Yate Shopping Centre, was accompanied by two other members of the Shopping Centre team, Paul Boden of project managers Hanover Cube and Tim Davis, Regional Head of DTZ Bristol and the South West Office.
The team completed 220 miles over the five days, spending up to 6 hours every day in the saddle in temperatures up to 92 degrees whilst climbing an incredible total height in excess of 18,000 feet during the trip.
Mark Hull: “Unfortunately due to this commitment we were unable to make the official turning on of the Christmas lights at Yate but we did raise over £15,000 for the British Heart Foundation and other Heart related regional charities.
“It was an amazing but very challenging trip, cycling through refugee camps and often being stoned by the local school children as we cycled through towns and villages! Despite the pain, suffering and unexpected greetings, we have already decided to do a Yate to Paris bike ride for 2014 as part of our training for another gruelling 450 mile ride through India in 2015 which will also be in aid of national and regional heart charities.”
The planning application for a new cinema development in Yate has been registered and the Shopping Centre management are now asking the people of Yate to show their support for it.
Andrew Lowrey, Yate Shopping Centre Manager: “It is essential that the public get behind this planning application by contacting South Gloucestershire Council and telling them that they want the cinema in Yate!
“A cinema is a key plank of the Town’s Community Plan and this is the opportunity that people have been waiting for. At the public consultation earlier this year there was overwhelming backing for the development proposals and now we need to turn that into support.”
The planning application, which will be considered by the Council early next year, includes a six-screen multiplex cinema, restaurants and new retail units. If the Council gives the go-ahead for the development, work will start in early 2015 and the cinema could be open by the end of the year.
Continuing, Andrew said: “We’ll be pulling out all the stops to ensure that we deliver what the people of Yate want and support plays a critical part in this”.
If you want to show your support you can either click on the link below:
Or write to the following address, quoting Planning Application Ref PK13/4116/F:
Planning Applications, PO Box 299, Civic Centre, High Street, Kingswood, Bristol BS15 0DR
Or e-mail:
planningapplications@southglos.gov.uk
DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE THE REF NO – PK13/4116/F
Support our independent retailers and services on samll business Saturday 7th December. Tweet the name of your favourite small business to https://twitter.com/sgloscouncil and you could win £100 of vouchers
Press release
Yate Shopping Centre is celebrating Small Business Saturday on 7thDecember when it will highlight the importance of independent traders.
With support from South Gloucestershire Council, the Centre will be helping its fourteen independent retailers promote their wares and services.
Andy Lowrey, Centre Manager, said: “We are one of several centres in the area that have been given funding by South Gloucestershire Council to help independent traders promote themselves in the run-up to Christmas. We also hope that the event might give potential traders the impetus to start a new business.
“Yate Shopping Centre values the independent sector as it sets us aside from many shopping destinations. We have a good balance of independent traders alongside the major national high street operators so visitors to Yate know that they’re not just visiting a normal shopping centre.
“On the day, the Centre will be festooned with artwork and balloons and we will be distributing leaflets, all backed by a social media campaign in advance.”
South Gloucestershire Council is supporting Small Business Saturday as part of its on-going effort to strengthen the vibrancy and vitality of town and district centres in South Gloucestershire. The council aims to support activities to encourage increased footfall in local high streets and town centres across the council’s area.
Plans for a cinema development on land adjacent to the town centre car park in Link Road, Yate have been submitted to South Gloucestershire Council this week.
The plans include a new six-screen multiplex cinema, seven restaurant units, a riverside cafe pod and three retail units similar to the new units recently opened in the Centre’s East Walk.
Mark Hull, Managing Director of Yate Shopping Centre owners Crestbridge Corporate Trustees, said: “Since we held the public consultation in May we have been addressing the technical issues raised. We believe we now have a scheme that is viable and is appealing to the market. Several operators have told us they are prepared to commit to leases and we now just need to get planning so we can start the ball rolling.
“The feedback from the consultation has been overwhelmingly positive although there were concerns raised about the many vacant units in the existing centre. Things have changed since the public consultation: we have seen many of the then vacant units occupied or under offer and there is a new air of confidence among the retail industry. We have some top high street names looking to come to Yate but they do need suitable premises.”
Yate Shopping Centre Manager, Andrew Lowrey: “Yate has been promised a cinema for many years and I am being asked daily what’s happening about the plans. They are now with the Council and I hope people will write in and show their support for the application, details of which will be on our website in due course.
“This is a key plank of the town’s Community Plan and is a major commitment for the centre owners. It is a £12 million investment, creating up to 250 jobs when fully occupied and a further 150 during construction.”
The application is expected to be validated by the Council in the next few days and should be decided by the Planning Committee in early February. Work will then start on-site late in 2014 with completion scheduled for late 2015.
A musical extravaganza will kick off the Christmas festivities on Thursday 14thNovember when the Yate Shopping Centre lights are switch on.
The evening will offer 3 X Factor star appearances, and performances from Tich & Charlie Brown, singing up to 20 songs along with tribute acts including a SKA performance from Mainly Madness and an ultimate Take That 2 experience.
The concert will commence at 5pm with X Factor appearances from Misha B, Lorna Simpson & Shelley Smith, Tich & Charlie Brown culminating with the switching on of the Christmas lights at approx 8.15pm.
Yate Shopping Centre Marketing Manager, Tracy King: “Following the success of last year’s Christmas events and significant positive feedback we will be holding the light switch on event on the 14thNovember and a separate Christmas Parade for the children on Saturday 23rdNovember at 12pm & 2pm. The parade will include the arrival of Father Christmas, camels & wisemen, rollerskating elves & snowmen & much much more.
Meanwhile, the traditional free Halloween pumpkin carving will take place between Noon and 3pm on Thursday, 31stOctober in the main square.
For more details see – http://www.yateshoppingcentre.co.uk/Events
New occupier activity in East Walk is on the boil today, Wednesday 16thOctober, as Anytime Fitness take on the keys to start their fit out and Quest Ladies Boutique opens its new shop.
Also later this month, on 26thOctober, the centre’s longest serving independent retailer, Abrahams Jewellers, will be opening its door in new larger premises at 7 East Walk.
Shopping Centre Manager, Andrew Lowrey: “It’s great to see all this activity with two of the traders moving to more central locations and Anytime Fitness starting work on the former Waves nightclub. Over recent weeks we’ve noticed a new air of confidence around the centre and we are now struggling to find space for shops that want to open here.
“As a result of our agent/retailer marketing day two months ago we have an impressive list of operators wanting space and are looking at how we can create suitable units. With Abrahams and Quest vacating premises in North Walk we are focusing on how we can make the most of the opportunities there. When Hotcha and Bottelinos open in North Parade in the next few months, there will be a lot of attention on this area.”
Early this morning Anytime Fitness started commenced works in the former nightclub aiming to open in early January after a complete refit. The gym and health club chain already have three local premises – Clifton, Cribbs Causeway and Bradley Stoke. With a worldwide total of 2,310 premises, membership of one gym gives members 24/7 access to the chain anywhere in the world.
Meanwhile Abrahams, having first opened in Yate in 1966, is now moving from North Walk to the former Evans unit at 7 East Walk in the heart of the Centre.
The Shopping Centre will be announcing its Christmas programme very shortly and as Andrew comments: “For the first time in several years we will not be affected by development works so with an improving economy, wider variety of shops and greater confidence we are hoping for a bumper season!”
Independent tenants are showing their faith in Yate Shopping Centre with several opting to move to larger or more prominent premises in another frenzy of activity at the centre.
Roman staff have been informed that the shop will be relocating from its existing premises to 1 South Walk (the former Stead & Simpson unit) at the end of September. The ladies wear fashion retailer, which caters for all ages, has traded well in Yate under a temporary lease and is now up-sizing.
The independent ladies fashion shop Quest will then be moving from its current premises in North Walk to the former Roman unit at 19 East Walk.
Andrew Lowrey, Yate Shopping Centre Manager: “It’s great news that two existing traders are moving within the centre to better sites. Roman has the confidence to take out a new long-term lease and to move to larger premises with an independent retailer filling its existing premises.
“Quest’s move to a prime site and the recently announced Abraham Jewellers move show our commitment to retaining the smaller and independent businesses whilst trying to attract the larger high street names that generate the footfall. We value our independents and recognise their importance to the mix and this sets us apart from other centres.”
In another move Celly’s Hairstyle International, a unisex hair salon with nearly 30 branches nationwide, opened on North Walk last week and there is a further tenant lined up for 14 North Walk.
Andrew continued: “Having successfully filled the main units in both East Walk and the central square our priority now will be to address North Walk. We’ve attracted two high profile restaurants for North Parade – Hotcha and Bottelinos – and the emphasis moving forward will be to fill the remaining North Walk units.
“There are definitely encouraging signs in the economy and this is reflected in our vacancy levels: at the height of the recession a couple of years ago we had 24 vacant units but by the end of this year that will be halved! Furthermore, we have a stream of retailers interested in taking space at the Centre and are working hard to suit their needs”.
Meanwhile work on adapting the former Waves Nightclub for occupation by Anytime Fitness will start at the beginning of September with the premises being cleared prior to fitting-out starting in mid-October with opening scheduled towards Christmas.