Lost Shops: Chichester edition

SussexWorld

We spoke to locals and a Chichester expert about the West Sussex city's forgotten shops.

Transcript

00:00Chichester's known for its beautiful cathedral and plenty of history but today we've got something a

00:05little different for you guys. I'm Henry Bryant, a reporter for the Observer series and today

00:10we're looking at the lost shops of Chichester. Now behind me is arguably the biggest empty unit

00:16in Chichester and that's where House of Fraser used to be. I'm Richard Ploughman and I've lived

00:21in Chichester for over 40 years now and I've been mayor three times. I've been a councillor for both

00:28the city and the district for 20 years and currently still the town crier. Deeply concerned

00:35about Chichester itself particularly the city centre. A wonderful building the House of Fraser which was

00:40actually part of the Dolphin Anchor and the Blue Coat School. It's actually part of Chichester's

00:45conservation area. We've got one of the biggest conservation areas and it's a lovely building

00:48inside. You define a city sometimes by its department store and it was very hoody-piggledy

00:54inside but it was a lovely place. Nice restaurant in there as well. What do you expect from a department

01:00store? And we do miss it because we've got no alternative to it. In 2019 it closed down and

01:06since then nothing has been done to this entire unit. We've lived in Chichester for 50 years.

01:12Gradually it's becoming more and more derelict with shops closing. This area here with the old

01:20post office and the House of Fraser or ANN as it was has been empty and it's so disappointing because

01:30Chichester is such a lovely place to live. Now behind me used to be where the post office was

01:36and this was a massive talking point when this closed and moved to North Street. In 1936 this post

01:42office was completed. However in October 2016 the post office moved from opposite Chichester Cathedral to the

01:49British bookshop Sussex Stationers on North Street. For a long time a lot of the shops have been very

01:54expensive here in Chichester. The rents and rates have been very high and so the post office particularly

02:01were concerned about the cost of that building there and I think they decided and along with a lot of

02:07other post offices to move it and it's moved around the corner but it's not quite the same walking

02:12through a card shop to get your post office there and a lot of facilities they used to do there have

02:17disappeared which I think is a shame. David Messam's which is now my phone was a hardware store in

02:23Chichester that had been around for almost 60 years. This sadly closed and there's even Facebook

02:29messages today talking about how much people miss it. People really did think highly of that place.

02:34Messam's itself was a very unique shop itself. You could get anything there and the people in there

02:42great expertise in things so if you wanted a particular size of screw or something like that

02:47you could get it there. Many people came from all over the area just simply to come to Messam's. Family

02:53business and excellent service there so and it's sad to see them go. In 2017 this closed its doors but

03:01there's even a mini plaque up here to remember the business owner would serve the community who clearly

03:06still very much miss him and his service. Well behind me these two buildings used to be a wonderful

03:11tailor's called McDowell's and they were here for well over 100 years or so and they were rather special.

03:17My blazer was bought from McDowell's and every so often I lose a button I'm afraid. I don't know whether

03:24it's too much eating or what but they would go in and I'd say to them have you got buttons? Yes Mr Plowman

03:31we have your buttons ready for it. It was that individual service that was there

03:35and the quality of the stuff they had was great and I think what we have lost is quite a number of

03:41the what I call traditional quality shops in Chisterston itself. Such a historical place

03:47to see it going downhill is quite worrying because I wonder what the Romans would have thought of it.

03:53The sad part of it is that I mean we've known Chisterston for years

03:58and some of the shops that have been here have been here for years and now gradually we've lost

04:05a lot of those that we were so used to. Now we want people to join in on the conversation with

04:11Lost Shops in Chichester so make sure to check out your world where you can comment about where your

04:17favourite shops were what you missed the most and your favourite memories of when the high street was a bit

04:22of a bit of a different place.

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