Arundel Street traders say boarded-up shops are “the bane of our lives”
Arundel Street traders have said that boarded-up shops, which were set to be knocked down for student halls, are “the bane of our lives,” adding the area is becoming “desolate.”
Traders along Arundel Street have raised concerns over a string of boarded-up shops, which have been left like that since 2021, affecting their businesses and the footfall to the area.
Arundel Street is a prominent city centre location, with the former Debenhams and Wendy’s restaurant leading into it from Commercial Road.
The plans, submitted by Fusion Students, proposed a part seven, part 21, and part 28 storey tower to accommodate 591 student beds and four ground-floor shops.
The plans were approved in August 2021, around the same time that shops between 12 and 28 Arundel Street were boarded up.
Nearly five years later, there has been no progress on the site.
Victoria Simpson, of Port Maid, a clothing store which has been trading on Arundel Street for 45 years, said it’s been “quite desolate” since the shops were boarded up.
“Not as many people come down here because there’s not much to see any more,” she added.
She lamented the closure of ‘U Need Us’, the famed former fancy dress and joke shop which created “queues down the road on Halloween”, adding it was “a big thing for Portsmouth to lose”.
Ewan Yang, of Boba Bloom, a bubble tea shop directly opposite the boarded-up shops, said: “In terms of the location, if you’re facing opposite something like this it definitely impacts the business because I think fewer people walk on this street.
“Hopefully if they can building something else that will attract lots of people it will definitely help the businesses on this street.”
A manager of another local shop on Arundel Street described the boarded-up shops as “the bane of our lives”.
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Pham Trung, of Orange Nails and Spa, said that since the business opened around four months ago, trade has been “very quiet” as “not a lot of people walk this way”.
When the plans for the student accommodation were floated, local trader Lee Hobson started a petition in 2020, calling the move “another nail in the coffin” for the city centre.
Portsmouth City Council and Fusion Students were approached for comment.