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South-east independent cookshop chain Kitchen Kapers has closed its Windsor branch, after 19 years of trading in the Berkshire town.
Kitchen Kapers joint managing director Gary Gordon said: “We simply came to the end of the lease and decided not to renew, because the landlord wanted a higher rent and long lease with no get out clauses.”
He added that the town’s parking facilities also posed a problem. “The park-and-ride is inadequate; the two multi-storey car parks are not adequate either. And with parking costing a minimum of £2.50 an hour, the charges are too expensive.”
He also noted that Windsor was home to a branch of John Lewis – “and for serious shoppers it was the key store” – but its closure four years ago has had an impact on footfall too.
Kitchen Kapers operates four other cookshops in Basingstoke, Camberley, Farnham and Woking, plus a mail order business and ecommerce site “which is doing very well since its revamp just before Christmas,” Gary said. “We’ve added a lot more stuff to it and we plan to do a lot more with it.”
