Leeds butcher to relocate after 40 years due to high rents
The co-owner of Malcolm Micheals Quality Butchers stall said that the business will move from Leeds’ Kirkgate Market after 40 years of trading as its rent is now too high.
The rent on the stall is just short of £120,000 a year, an expense that co-owner Malcolm Leary said was no longer sustainable.
The butcher’s shop will relocate to the former Bonmarché in Kirkgate, Leeds City Centre. A further store is also in development at the Crossgates Shopping Centre.
Commenting on the company’s announcement, Leary said: “I had no choice, rents are high. We’d been having to go to the high street, out of the doors anyway to get trade.
“Trade was not coming to us. If we just sat back here and waited for it to come to us, it wouldn’t happen.” Leary went onto explain that footfall in the market had been “minimal” for some time.
Speaking about the move’s impact on the company’s relationship with its fellow Kirkgate Market traders, Malcolm said: “They’re not just friends, they’re like my family. They know me inside out. They’re not happy we’re going but they understand. I’m going to miss them massively.”
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