Lichfield shoe seller says council's development plans threaten his 120-year-old business

Adam Lumb’s family have run Friary Shoes for almost 120 years, but its current shop on Baker’s Lane is one of six units the council is taking over as part of its Birmingham Road development plans.

Mr Lumb said: “We found out on Facebook that from 44 Baker’s Lane is going to be knocked down to make way for an open space, as a cut-through.

“The multi-storey car park is going to be knocked down as well, and it’s going to be a big open space to get ready for the Birmingham Road project.

“We have had several conversations with our current landlord and Lichfield District Council over the last couple of weeks.

“We’ve been reassured that our building and next door to us are not going to be knocked down in the first phase. I don’t know if they’re going to be knocked down later.”

The lease has five years remaining, and Mr Lumb said he has been told nothing will happen to the building in that time.

He hopes to continue trading on Baker’s Lane, but at the moment he says it is unclear whether he’ll be able to renew the lease beyond 2028.

He said: “We’ve got five years left on our lease, so nothing is going to happen to us within those five years – that’s what we’ve been promised.

“The last thing we thought was going to happen was they were going to demolish the building. It’s still very much up in the air. There’s just a lot of uncertainty.”

He hopes the council won’t turf them out due to the heritage of Friary Shoes and the fact it has been owned by the same family for longer than any other retailer in the city.

Mr Lumb said many generations of people were fitted for their first pair of shoes there, and there are a lot of memories associated with that.

It’s also been distressing for his employees and members of his family, who are concerned about what might happen.

He added: “Obviously there’s a lot of history there and we attract a lot of footfall – particularly at this time of year when it’s back to school.

“Since we found out a month or two ago that this is going to happen, it’s been so distressing because it’s been in my family all that time.

“I spoke to my mother, she’s 81, and she was distraught about what’s going to happen.

“As a business we’ve gone through two world wars, we’ve gone through covid and we’ve gone through recession – hopefully the council aren’t going to put us out of business.

“We are in discussions, but it has been very distressing for us and for the 34 staff we currently have.

“The most distressing part is finding out, not through anyone from the council coming to see us but just basically finding out on Facebook.

“We’ve since had meetings and they’ve apologised to us, but if they’d come to us in the first place and involved us in the whole process that would’ve been a lot better.

A spokesperson for Lichfield District Council confirmed there are no current plans to demolish the unit and is currently negotiating an exchange of leases in order to progress with its plans.

They said: “There are no current plans to demolish the unit currently leased by Friary Shoes.

“Lichfield District Council is negotiating the exchange of the leasehold of that unit, and five others in the row, for part of the freehold for the Three Spires site.

“The exchange will enable four of the units, currently let on short term leases, to be demolished, to create a ‘break-through’ to the wider Birmingham Road site.

“The council has recently met with the owners of Friary Shoes and confirmed their lease, which runs to 2028, is not affected by those proposals.”