The owner of a unique High Wycombe café has warned businessmen and women to ‘not make the same mistake’ he made, as he prepares to shut down his venue.
Chris Miller, who runs the Air Raid Shelter Cafe and Tea Room in Frogmoor, will close the doors of the World War II eatery for the final time on Sunday, July 27, after nearly seven years in the town.
It initially opened in November 2018 in the Chilterns Shopping Centre before moving out of the complex at the start of the decade.
Now in his final week, the entrepreneur has revealed the one major error he made, which has partly led to his business closing down.
Speaking exclusively to the Free Press, Mr Miller said: “The problem with retail is that there are these stupid leases which are called full maintenance and repair leases.
“I agreed to not only a 15-year lease, but also, if anything went wrong with the building, which is a Grade II listed building, so it was always going to fall apart, I would be responsible for it.
“I’m trying to build a business, but maintaining a building for someone else.
“You’re effectively making them [the building owner] richer by maintaining their assets on top of giving them rent.
“I believe full maintenance and repair leases should be banned.
“You can’t afford a plumber, but it got so bad that we had to get one out.
“The first one couldn’t find anything, so we ended up ripping the floor apart from upstairs, and it turned out that a pipe had broken.
“I was responsible [for getting it fixed] as it was my fault [for signing the contract].
“Don’t go near full maintenance and repair leases, as you don’t know what could happen with them, and look at your postcode.
“No matter how good your business idea is, footfall is everything.
According to an advert which is currently live on the Zoopla website, the annual rent of the building is £45,000, or £3,750 per month.
On top of the issues surrounding the contract, Mr Miller also expressed his concerns about the Frogmoor area, and how anti-social behaviour has played a role in a lack of customers.
A knife amnesty bin has been erected near the café, and several fights have occurred just yards away from the business.
He claims that the area is 'unsafe' for visitors.
This, coupled with a lack of footfall due to its location, has also played a role in the owner’s decision to close.
He added: “I just cannot carry on.
"All of our customers are coming to purely help us - they are not walking past and popping in like a normal coffee shop.
“And with Frogmoor, it’s got to the state where people don’t feel safe, especially women.
“When you go into a marriage, you go in with the full expectation of everything working, but sometimes, they don’t.
“And I had people tell me not to go near it, but I still did.
“I knew Frogmoor was a bad area, and I knew the building needed a lot of work, but you think you can be the one who can fix it.”
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