Independent retailer at Peterborough's Designer Leathers closes shop for final time after 36 years

The owner of an independent niche retailer in the centre of Peterborough shut up shop for the final time on June 19, after 36 years in business.

Joel Lewis (55) has run Designer Leathers in Queen Street since the age of 19 but a combination of the closure of department store John Lewis, the rise of internet trade and changing fashions and rising costs, has persuaded the retailer to call it a day.

He said: “The cost of living has gone crazy. There is not enough money around.

"Footfall and my takings are down but the cost of running the business has gone up.

"It is only me here and I still can’t get a wage out of it.”

Mr Lewis, who is married with three children and lives in Peterborough, said he was saddened to have made the decision.

Now he is about to rent out the ground floor shop to a sushi bar operator.

A planning application has been submitted to Peterborough City Council by Yingchao Yao seeking approval to change the use of the shop to a cafe or restaurant.

Mr Lewis said: “I just felt I couldn’t sit here all day, every day.

“But I pulled out of the deal twice because in my heart I didn’t really want to let it go.

"But I also thought there wasn’t enough in it any longer to warrant a living.

And as soon as the sun started to shine three weeks ago I thought, am I really going to sit here for another summer taking nothing?

It is a far cry from the heady days of success for the business, which began with the sale of a range of must-have leather jackets.

Mr Lewis said: “The 80s and 90s were phenomenal for leather jackets.

“It was unbelievable – customers would be queuing at the doors.

"The best times were at Christmas. The shop would be packed and I’d be working with the family and the business was successful with people coming from out of town to buy from us.

"In the 2000s we saw a slump in leather jacket sales, saw a lot of competition open but then we got into Radley handbags.

"They were amazing through the next 15 years. It was colossal and we became the Radley shop of the town with the leather jackets upstairs and handbags downstairs and it really worked.”

While the business got through the lockdowns, Mr Lewis said the real damage was done with the closure of John Lewis in the Queensgate Shopping Centre.

He said: “We had a reasonable business pre-Covid but John Lewis closed and the town seems to have gone backwards.

"There’s been a big drop in footfall.

"People come to Peterborough to have a few beers and to get their nails done.

"The council tries hard. It’s not their fault we lost John Lewis. People like living in Peterborough and we’ve turned the upper floors into two flats."

Looking to the future, Mr Lewis said he would take a breather and thought there was a future for Designer Leathers.

He said: “I’d like to open a shop in Stamford or do some of the country shows.”