February 28, 2011 10.52 am This story is over 156 months old

Raspberry Village unit listed to let

Departing ? A letting listings shows that Raspberry Village is looking to dispose of its St Marks Street store in Lincoln.

Updated with further company statements, edited headline

Lincoln furniture and decorations store Raspberry Village is looking to dispose of its city centre location, according to a chartered surveyors listing.

Banks Long & Co of Lincoln have listed to let Raspberry Village’s unit in The Junxion on St Mark’s Street, for the current passing rent of £64,000 per year.

The property is available by way of the assignment of a lease expiring on September 28 2029, according to the online listing.

The listing mentions that staff at Raspberry Village are unaware of the disposal, marking the public online listing as “confidentially available”.

Before being shown the listing, Raspberry Village Lincoln said: “This is not true. The store has no plans for closing and this kind of rumour is bad for the business and the staff working for the company.”

After showing Raspberry Village Lincoln the online listing, the store declined to comment, simply saying “Thanks very much for this information.”

When contacted by The Lincolnite, Banks Long & Co did not comment on the availability of the listing by the time of publishing.

The online listing for the 432 square meters unit from Banks Long & Co has not been removed from the site.

Raspberry Village, who also has stores in Nottingham and Norwich, would have to give six months notice before vacating The Junxion unit.

Raspberry Village is part of furniture wholesaler Jig, who also have a store in London.

The commercial space next to Raspberry Village Lincoln, formerly occupied by Venture Photography, is also empty.

Update on March 1 @ 9.29am: Donald Clark, of Raspberry Village owners Jig, told The Lincolnshire Echo: “We have no intention of shutting our store in Lincoln.

“In these challenging trading times, we must keep our operating costs to a minimum.

“One major cost is rent and it is the responsible thing to do to explore alternatives to safeguard the future of our company and staff.

“Raspberry Village is proud to be a Lincolnshire-based company and we will do everything we can to remain in Lincoln.

“The last option for us is to close the store,” Clark said.