Legacy retailer pulls down the shutters for good
Dickins & Jones closed its doors for the last time on Saturday as a Regent Street retail legacy came to an end.

Smaller retail units, flats and offices will replace the 170-year-old department store, which was one of the oldest in the country.

Shearer Propery Group snapped up the lease from owner House of Fraser in 2004 (RW, June 24), after the rent rose from a reported£250,000 in 2003 to about£4.5 million a year.

Shearer Property Group managing director Guy Shearer, working jointly on the project with Delancey Estates, said in August last year: 'Regent Street is the premier upmarket street in the UK and Dickins & Jones is on the best side. It's not just where it is, it's the size and depth that are important.'

Separately, the shutters also came down on Beatties in Birmingham, following House of Fraser's£69.4 million acquisition last year.

Workers at the Corporation Street department store have been made relocated or made redundant.