DIYWEEK.net

Prominent Lincoln cookshop Biggers of Bailgate is to shut up shop for good - only one year after celebrating its 70th anniversary.
The decision to close has been made as a result of a number of factors, including retirement and a fall-off in trade.

Biggers started life as a hardware store, established in 1944 by Fred and Nellie Bigger, and it remains a family business. Director Peter Bigger has been involved with the shop for 55 years, while his nephew Andrew Madden, also a director, has been there since 1994 and run it since 2003.

But Mr Madden told diyweek.net: "Peter wants to retire, and I don't want to do it any more. There has been a dramatic decline in footfall and trade to the point where I don't enjoy it any more. I've dedicated my life to this and it's come at the expense of many other things. I've been stuck in these four walls for 22 years and I want to get out - I would have got out of it a few years ago but you do it for other people."

Biggers changed from being a hardware shop to a housewares specialist around eight years ago. "And that proved to be very successful for about four years," Mr Madden said. "But we've seen a rapid decline in footfall: the area we're in has changed, and the internet has changed how people shop."

He said he did not know what he might do next. "But I'm not worried about it. I'll see what crops up. One of the things I'm looking to do is work for a supplier, maybe as a rep."

Mr Madden said that co-founder Nellie, now 94, understands the reasons behind the decision to close, and added: "The people who are the least sad about it are us. We're going out on a high. We've done a month's trade in five days since the news went out, probably for nostalgic reasons."

The shop is due to close down at the end of March.