A store at St Marks Shopping Centre in Lincoln has closed abruptly as numerous suppliers and staff claim to be owed money by the business.
Fresh Local & Wild opened at St Marks in December 2021, replacing the former Gap premises at the shopping centre and promising to put local businesses at the forefront of their store.
The concept allowed for artists and businesses in Lincolnshire to stock their items at a physical store, with concession stands and shelves full of local produce and artwork.
People said the business’s vision was pure and honest, providing a platform for small, local independents to promote and sell their products in-store for a commission of the sales.
The registered owner and director of Fresh Local & Wild, Ellena Ward, told The Lincolnite during the announcement of the shop opening in Lincoln they have “a strong central ethos and are passionate about community and sustainability”.
This, however, is now under major dispute from artists and contributors alike. A number of local businesses and artists, who asked to remain anonymous for security purposes, contacted The Lincolnite to say they were owed significant sums of money by Fresh Local & Wild for the sale of their stock in the Lincoln branch.
It has been claimed staff within the business are also not being paid, and with more information starting to filter out about the company’s alleged antics, the store owners made the decision to close, though the store itself has not officially confirmed this.
One whistleblower said they felt they had been ‘conned’, adding they’d had no form of communication with the business for a number of weeks.
The Lincolnite has put these allegations to the owner of Fresh Local & Wild, who is yet to respond to the questions at the time of publication.
A sign in the window, which looks to have been rushed, suggests the shop is temporarily closed for “refurnishing”, but this claim has been quashed by St Marks Shopping Centre, confirming the store is now closed.
A sign in the shop windows says “closed to refurnishing”. | Photo: The Lincolnite
Valerie Johnson, centre manager at St Marks, said: “We can confirm Fresh Local & Wild has now closed at St Marks.
“Since opening in December 2021, St Marks has offered regular support to the team at Fresh Local and Wild in the hope of building a successful partnership.
“We are disappointed to hear local independent businesses haven’t been paid for their work or time.”
The company is believed to have ties with a businessman called Ted Ward, who sometimes appears to go by the alias of Edward Pickering. He is believed to have brokered deals for Fresh Local & Wild stores across the country, despite being disqualified from running a company after a previous conviction in 2010.
On Fresh Local & Wild’s website, Ted Ward is listed as the sole property advisor for the business, and Ellena Ward goes by the name of Ellie Ward, as managing director. The other named person on the site is James Horner, under the role of group food and beverage manager.
Mr Ward’s connections don’t stop at Fresh Local & Wild, as The Times reported last year about his connections in brokering deals for 15:17 stores across the country before watching them close months later, with businesses dissolving shortly afterwards.
Ellena stated in an email to The Lincolnite ahead of the store’s opening that failed enterprise 15:17 – which has seen five businesses dissolve and one liquidate under variations of the same company name in the past two years according to Companies House – is a different entity to Fresh Local & Wild.
However, the common connection of Ted Ward leaves question marks hanging over this business model, and it is unclear what the future holds for those awaiting payment, as well as the site at St Marks itself.
Lincolnshire Police has been contacted for a comment.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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