Ex-covered market traders hit with £23k repairs bill

Sue and Michael Norton, and their daughter Tammie Norton-Jones, were slapped with a £23,000 charge after they let the lease run out on C.H. Brown and Son at the end of September.

Concerns have been raised that the charges for a number of factors, including redecorating and rubbish removal, will make it harder to let vacant shops at the market off Cornmarket Street.

Mr and Mrs Norton and Mrs Norton Jones sold leather goods and clothing from the shop since taking it on from its previous owner in 1973.

Mrs Norton-Jones, 40, said: “We sold high end goods so we had to keep it to a high standard.

“The bill is extortionate and feels very petty in places.

"A lot of the damage that was done was because of the floods which were caused by the roof [of the main market] leaking.

“This was our baby, we had many years here and lots of loyal customers, we miss it greatly and it is very sad to be in this position now.”

The family decided to to let the lease run out and operate the business from home after a torrid summer which saw the shop flooded on multiple occasions and because of concerns about how the Westgate Centre – which opened last month – would affect business.

They were left shocked on Friday when they received a letter out of the blue from Oxford City Council, which runs the market, setting out how the shop was 'dilapidated' and asking for £23,000.

Charges included £100 for removing rubbish, £50 for removing curtains, £60 for removing poles which hold Christmas decorations and £5,000 to redecorate.

The family said the huge bill has left a bitter taste after so many years of trading.

They said they had spent a lot of their own money maintaining it, including installing a spiral staircase and fixing damage after an animal rights group detonated a bomb in the 1980s.

Mrs Norton, 65, said: "There are lots of charity shops in there, are they going to be hit with bills of a similar size if they want to go?

“We weren’t able to sell the business and we just have enough to see us through retirement, there’s no way we can pay this.

"If we’d known we needed to do these things we could have done it ourselves for much cheaper.

“A new trader would only come in and rip everything up and put their own stuff in so it’s a complete waste of money."

Earlier this month the Oxford Mail revealed that some traders at the market said footfall was down following the Westgate opening, while Sandie Griffith, the secretary of the Covered Market Tenants' Association, said the loss of Haymans fishmongers, which closed earlier this month, was a 'shattering blow' to other traders.

Responding to news of the Norton family's bill, Ms Griffith, who owns Jemini Flowers, said: “C.H. Brown has always been a beautiful shop, easily one of the best in the whole place and well kept.

“Someone could just move in tomorrow if they were a similar business.

"We have all had a nice living from the market over the years but none of us are rich.

"To have to face this at the end of your working life when you have done everything you can to maintain it for years, it is very concerning for everyone.

"A lot of people are considering their future and this will only put off potential new tenants."

Councillor Mary Clarkson, the city council's champion for the covered market, said the council was following 'standard procedure' following the expiry of a lease.

She added: "The next step involves the council as landlord and the tenant negotiating the various repair items identified in the schedule with a view to agreeing the cost of the works and the claim being settled.”