'It would be a travesty': Traditional shop fittings from 150-year-old ironmongers could be sold off
A photographer who has fallen in love with a Shropshire market town is on a quest to save the shop fittings of a 150-year-old ironmongers that is threatened with closure.
Rickards & Son Ltd in Ludlow has been trading at 6-7 Bull Ring since 1864 but the three-storey Grade II listed building was put up for sale two years ago by estate agents Carter Jonas with a guide price of £695,000.
Owner of the store Mike Lloyd said they had not received many offers and he is "not optimistic" that they will find a buyer to take on the business as a going concern, which means the 150-year-old shop could be sold to developers.
Mr Lloyd, who lives in Lincoln, said: "The property is still for sale and that does not necessarily mean the end of Rickards as the hope is to sell it as a going concern but I am not wholly optimistic that someone is going to come in and take over the business."
Mr Lloyd, whose family have run the ironmongers since the 19th century, said that if the shop is not saved as a going concern the fixtures and fittings inside the ironmongers, some of which have been there since it opened, would be auctioned off.
