Amoore wrote:Buffalo has finally bitten the dust, citing increased business rates (and rent).
I'm told the unit will become a barbers.
Its rateable value did increase a fair bit - from £59,500 to £115,000. That would imply an increase in the rates bill of roughly £28,000 a year, so a sizeable amount.
The idea is that it reflects changes in valuations between April 2008 and April 2015. There was a sizeable increase in A3 values in good locations during that period. It'd be interesting if, with a formal change of use, the rateable value will be downwardly adjusted as I don't think usages like hairdressers would have gone up anywhere near as much.
Looking at rateable values is quite interesting. Values for the Hayes went up a fair bit (e.g. John Lewis from £2.2 million to £2.7 million - implying rates bills of roughly half that), while values in the Capitol Centre halved (e.g. Hobbs from £91,500 to about £44,000). Shows the big changes in the city centre.