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Anyone know anything about Golfrate?

"Woolworths has been left with a £1.6m rent demand after a shock decision on an outstanding rent review for its Brixton store. The 45,000 sq ft store on Brixton Road, owned by Golfrate, went to arbitration for a 2004 rent review. The arbitrator, Chris Ray at Harmer Ray Hoffbrand, found that the rent of £250,000 should rise to £896,000 a year. "

Woolworths have their work cut out if the intend to stay in Brixton. I think Golfrate is trying to oust them big time. So he must have a reason for this. The rumour about Primark or Waitrose coming to Brixton has got to be true
 
i love woolies, i reckon it's an ace shop, you can buy anything from a can opener to solar powered garden lights in there. and its cheap - a waitrose is hardly the shop for people on low incomes. it would be a real shame to see woolies go. if it was replaced by a big supermarket there is absolutely no doubt it would be a disaster for local businesses.
 
Crispy said:
no way, woolies is useful. waitrose can fuck off - that'd put a lot of local shops out of business
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As I cycle around London a lot i have the occasional pleasure of using Waitrose "the posh peoples Tesco".Theres a real upmarket one off Belgrave sq.Its full of well preserved Ladies of a "certain age".Sometimes accompanied by the phillipino maid-who pushes the supermarket trolley.I wouldnt say no:D.

The other one is in the now revamped Brunswick centre near Russel sq.Whilst it has some chavs:D from the estates its still suitably refined for the discerning shopper:D.Alos handy for me as its by the Renoir cinema.

If Waitrose came to Brixton i think M&S would be more worried.Waitrose concentrate on food but the prices are similar.By the way some things at Waitrose are an ok price-coffee and tea bags.
 
but dont you think another supermarket - a large one if it was where woolies is - would be death of many local food shops, including many in the market? at the moment, sainsburys is pretty small and tesco is just out of the centre, so a lot of people use the market etc. but if a really big supermarket moved into the high steet they have the ability to offer a much wider range of stuff than in sainsburys or iceland. i just think it's a little worrying - you can see the council's long term plan to encourage more big retail chains in...
 
Waitrose has already bought three Woolworths sites around London. I don't think Golfrate will care either way if they can afford the rent or not. Woolworths is struggling anyway and the credit crunch does not help.

And then look at how Brixton has changed over the years. Majority of local residents probably won't shop there, but then I know at least three other people who live in Brixton that have properties worth more than a million pounds. There is quite a number of people in Brixton who will shop there that are city based workers that pass through or live in the area. So the market is definatly there for them. But yes, they will be in direct competition with M&S.

Does anyone know what M&S make in a week? I would assume they own the property their store is on. I know Iceland is on Golfrate land but don't know how much their rent is, but they do take £250 a week. Sainsburys makes £140 a week and pay £18 a month rent.
 
7 "acquired by Golfrate" signs on Rye lane in Peckham now, all appeared in the last couple of weeks
 
brixtongirl78 said:
Does anyone know what M&S make in a week? I would assume they own the property their store is on. I know Iceland is on Golfrate land but don't know how much their rent is, but they do take £250 a week. Sainsburys makes £140 a week and pay £18 a month rent.
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i assume there's supposed to be a 'k' or three noughts after those figures.... ;)

how do you know anyway?
 
yeah its in k's :rolleyes:

I keep my ears open around Brixton to find out more. I think it would be intresting to know how much other retailers pay per sqaure compared to Woolies.
 
people like golfrate have a vested interest in increasing retail rents in brixton - which favours large chains and fucks off local businesses. look at the shops like Robbills which used to be where sainsburys/footlocker are now - how could they ever compete?
 
Brixton Hatter said:
people like golfrate have a vested interest in increasing retail rents in brixton - which favours large chains and fucks off local businesses. look at the shops like Robbills which used to be where sainsburys/footlocker are now - how could they ever compete?
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I'm not sure that actually makes sense. There's no particular reason that a large chain can pay more rent - unless they sell more stuff. And that really comes down to how good they are at their business. There are plenty of smal businesses locally which are doing very well - the Wing Tai, the Portuguese butchers, the Portuguese deli and lots of the cafes would spring to mind as obvious examples.
 
The Brixton woolies site isn't suitable for a large supermarket - no parking. A Primark, now thats a different kettle of fish.......
 
zuszsa said:
The Brixton woolies site isn't suitable for a large supermarket - no parking. A Primark, now thats a different kettle of fish.......
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I normally love Woolies. But when I went on Saturday their DVD collection was dire - it was at a level where I began to suspect they were having a closing sale. :(

I genuinely hope it survives - it's usually such a useful shop.
 
Bob said:
I'm not sure that actually makes sense. There's no particular reason that a large chain can pay more rent - unless they sell more stuff. And that really comes down to how good they are at their business. There are plenty of smal businesses locally which are doing very well - the Wing Tai, the Portuguese butchers, the Portuguese deli and lots of the cafes would spring to mind as obvious examples.
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in large units like where Sainsburys and Footlocker are i'd disagree.

They have the buying power to work on skinnier margins for starters.
 
Bob said:
I'm not sure that actually makes sense. There's no particular reason that a large chain can pay more rent - unless they sell more stuff. And that really comes down to how good they are at their business. There are plenty of smal businesses locally which are doing very well - the Wing Tai, the Portuguese butchers, the Portuguese deli and lots of the cafes would spring to mind as obvious examples.
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true. But i bet the rents went up when they redeveloped that bit of the high street. the question is - do we want a clone town of big retail chains with little or no diversity of local businesses? and if a large supermarket moved in, who's to say that Wing Tai et al wouldn't suffer? unless there's some of protection, i reckon in 10 years time that central brixton could be indistinguishable from any other high street in the uk.
 
I thought everyone was aware that this was the direction Brixton was always heading since they announced shutting down the market in front of the old Kwik Save. This was to build a new shopping mall integrated into the car park. Or was this just a rumour?
 
made a lot of his money in Angola 20-30 years ago. has other backers behind him. "import/export". draw your own conclusions.
 
Brixton Hatter said:
true. But i bet the rents went up when they redeveloped that bit of the high street. the question is - do we want a clone town of big retail chains with little or no diversity of local businesses? and if a large supermarket moved in, who's to say that Wing Tai et al wouldn't suffer? unless there's some of protection, i reckon in 10 years time that central brixton could be indistinguishable from any other high street in the uk.
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I agree with almost all of that.

But it seems to me that the places really in trouble are the market stalls. And the council is not exactly seeming sympathetic to them at the moment.

I wonder if some of the bigger retail chains might provide some footfall that then goes into the market. Especially if they're not competitive (particularly not food).
 
brixtongirl78 said:
Waitrose has already bought three Woolworths sites around London. I don't think Golfrate will care either way if they can afford the rent or not. Woolworths is struggling anyway and the credit crunch does not help.

And then look at how Brixton has changed over the years. Majority of local residents probably won't shop there, but then I know at least three other people who live in Brixton that have properties worth more than a million pounds. There is quite a number of people in Brixton who will shop there that are city based workers that pass through or live in the area. So the market is definatly there for them. But yes, they will be in direct competition with M&S.
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If Waitrose took over Woolies and stayed open late it would catch those passing through going home from work.M and S and Sainsburys are buzy at that time for the same reason.Ive found its easier to shop at Iceland early evening for that reason.

So I think ur correct on the demographic that use those food shops.They would use M and S ,Sainsburys or Waitrose but wouldnt be seen dead in Iceland or Pondstretcher.

I believe M and S own there store.It has been used by M and S since it was built.Its one of the original stores in Brixton.

To br frank I think Woolies is now crap.It used to be good before they messed it about a few years ago.Id rather use Argos.
 
Bob said:
I wonder if some of the bigger retail chains might provide some footfall that then goes into the market. Especially if they're not competitive (particularly not food).
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This was mentioned by some residents at the "Future Brixton" consultations.Currys used to have a shop in Electric Avenue for example.

I think if the Market could stay open later it would help.But I dont know if people living nearby would like that.I know the people running the new pizza place would like it to stay open later.
 
To resurrect this old thread... how's Golfrate getting on in Brixton and Peckham? It's been blighting Colliers Wood for ages with its ownership of the ugliest building in London, The Tower, which is now derelict and covered in green netting to stop bits falling off. The company seems suddenly less keen to plaster its acquisitions with advertisements for itself, probably because it's realised that attaching its name to festering wrecks is not such good PR. If you have any examples of this behaviour, please notify them via the Golfratewatch page. Thank you.
 
Golfrate "manage" the two blocks in Rushcroft Road that were evicted last March. After the eviction those Camelot idiots were there for a while, and now there's a whole load of rude and incompetent builders there turning them in luxury flats. Gotta love em....
 
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