Browns of Chester: How a city is coping without Debenhams

It's six months since the final Debenhams stores shut their doors for the last time, leaving many high streets with large, empty units.

One store in the retail empire had such a strong identity it was allowed to retain its original name, Browns of Chester.

That strong identity didn't stop the store from being closed alongside more than 100 others in May, leaving a significant gap in Chester's historic high street.

But how is the city coping, six months on from the loss of a store once regarded as "the Harrods of the North"? Business owners and organisations in the city have shared their thoughts with BBC News.

Kingdom Thenga arrived in the UK from his native South Africa 22 years ago and after a period living on the streets in London, he forged a career in hospitality.

He opened his first business nine years ago and now owns five venues in the Cheshire area. His latest venture, a city centre sports bar, opened at the end of last year between lockdowns.

"Has it been easy? No. Is it challenging? Absolutely, but it's a challenge we're looking forward to," he says.

"I think Debenhams closing has been a real, real shame and a real gut to the city, but I think the city's fighting back by trying to introduce different things. Yes, we've lost one of the oldest businesses in Chester but there's a lot of exciting, new, fresh independent businesses in Chester."

One of the biggest challenges for his businesses at the moment is staffing.

"With hospitality, we've lost a lot of great people to other industries," he adds.

"We just have to make sure we can attract people and encourage people to come back into the industry."

But Mr Thenga is optimistic about the future.

"You get knocked down and you get up, and you fight on and that's important.

"It's an interesting time, is it challenging? Yes. But I think as long as we all work together, in the spirit of "Ubuntu" [an African proverb that means "I am because we are"], then we can survive.

Retail is something that Sam Taylor knows very well.

She first started working in Beaverbrooks in Chester when it opened in 1987 and after a few moves to other branches, she came back in 2006. She's now the store manager.

"Businesses have come and gone and we still have many of the businesses that were here when I first started," she explains.

Ms Taylor says the shop has had more customers since reopening after lockdown, both locals and visitors.

Wedding and engagement jewellery has been some of the big sellers, after Covid led to many weddings being put on pause.

"Everybody's very positive, they can see that there's lots of people about," she says. "People are seeing new businesses, independent businesses open, which is really encouraging, gives lots of confidence."

Her store will be undergoing a major refurbishment next year, showing a significant investment from its owners, and developments in the city also give Ms Taylor confidence.

"We're very lucky we've got the development at Northgate going on, that's a very positive thing for the city, lots of new businesses coming, hopefully that will continue," she says.

"For us as a city having something new happening, it's on a smaller scale than it was initially going to be, but to still have it is a very big positive for the city."

Laura Heywood has seen plenty of changes during her 26-year tenure of her business the Scented Garden Retreat, but coming out of lockdown has been one of the busiest.

She says they've been "overwhelmingly busy" and had to take on another member of staff after they reopened on 17 April.

"I think a lot of people have been shopping around and wanting to buy those products that Debenhams would have stocked and sold," Ms Heywood adds.

"From April since we reopened we've just been busy the whole time, we can't pinpoint if it was down to the loss of trade from Debenhams closing or if it was just down to the fact that we had reopened and people were desperate to get back in."

But she highlights the challenges, especially as a close contact business.

"We've still had to maintain very strict Covid protocols to maintain the safety for our staff and clients.

"As an industry, we've not had access to those schemes such as Eat Out To Help Out, VAT reductions, we've still had to maintain all our overheads. As a beauty industry we've not had that support."

However, she says Chester's "fantastic community" has been a big help.

"There are a lot of positives in the city and that's what we have to embrace and acknowledge rather than looking at the doom and gloom that all cities are facing, all cities are struggling but it's how we address it and how we push forward."

Many businesses in Chester - including the three we spoke to - are involved with the city's Business Improvement District (BID).

The group represents more than 400 businesses in the city centre and aims to encourage more people to come into the city and to stay longer.

BID manager Carl Critchlow says the closure of a store the size of Browns of Chester was a "real blow" to the city centre.

"But the businesses have shown real resilience, as has the city, and we've been able to bounce back," he says.

"We've seen more businesses actually open in the city than close. We don't have an abundance of empty big box units that many other cities do, we have a lot more properties that lend themselves to smaller, independent-type businesses."

Mr Critchlow says footfall has been increasing since restrictions eased and that there is "a real good feel" about Chester.

So what could be the future of the former Debenhams store?

A spokesperson for British Land, which owns the building, said: "We continue to review our options for the site."

Mr Critchlow would like the Debenhams site to remain as retail and says a number of stakeholders in the city have been looking at options to put to British Land.

But are there many operators willing to take on such a large site, and one that is also partially Grade I listed?

Other towns have seen department stores reopen, including nearby Southport, so only time will tell what happens with this prominent site.

For more about this story, watch Politics North West at 10:00 GMT on Sunday 28 November or on the iPlayer afterwards.

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