Former mayor believes high rents are driving businesses away

A former city mayor has sounded the alarm bells over ‘the probable link’ between series of recent city centre retail closures and spiralling rents.

Cllr Donal Lyons told the Galway City Tribune that over recent months there were at least 10 retail outlets in the heart of the city which had closed their doors.

The current deputy mayor also warned that he had been reliably informed that more closures were on the way as retailers opted to leave, rather than continuing to pay high rents.

“I don’t really know what the solution is to this problem but I do think that it is extremely worrying to see so many retail outlets pulling out of prime locations.

“We don’t have a big city centre shopping area – unlike some other major cities – so I believe that this makes it all the more important that we maintain the life and vibrancy of this area,” said Cllr Lyons.

He said that the closures were happening in the heart of the city centre retail area in places such Shop Street, Edward Square, the Eyre Square shopping centre and Mainguard Street.

Cllr Lyons said that some of the feedback he was getting from retailers was that the ‘upward only’ review of rents in the city centre area needed to be looked at.

“How this can happen, I don’t really know, but it may require some kind of intervention from central Government in terms of looking at how rents are reviewed.

“What is quite clear is that many retailers – both big and small – are making a decision that it is just too costly for them to stay trading in the heart of the city centre,” said Cllr Lyons.

He also pointed out that from a tourism point of view there would be a very negative vibe from visitors seeing shops locked up right in the heart of the city’s retail area.

“There has to be a reason why these people are pulling out and the only conclusion I can come to is that it has to be financial.

“As rents continue to rise, these retailers are obviously deciding to pull out. We don’t want to end up killing the goose who’s laying the golden eggs,” said Cllr Lyons.