I have a new shop!

[Cerise]

Amazing! You must be very proud of yourself.

[Skips]

It looks so good, you must be really pleased.

[George]

It looks wonderful!

[overthehill]

And, look ....!

3rd-st-patricks-2019.jpg

[Marth]

Well done!, and your shop looks great.

[overthehill]

Thanks, all. I feel stupidly pleased and proud of my 'baby'!

[Duophonic]

Well done!

[absley]

Well done OTH! What's your plan with opening hours etc? Will next week be your first week? I hope it goes really well.

[AshleyX]

It looks fab, OTH. Good luck!

[overthehill]

Well done OTH! What's your plan with opening hours etc? Will next week be your first week? I hope it goes really well.

We're planning for Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. The only slight fly in the ointment is that I'm at college on Tuesdays until the end of May, so I have to leave R in charge of the shop. Bless him, he's hugely optimistic and supportive, but knows sod all about sewing. Surprisingly. I've told him he'll be fine, as long as he doesn't try too hard to be helpful.

We kind of hope that we'll be able to close for a few weeks in August, but the 'new baby' analogy is pretty accurate. It needs round-the-clock nurturing and a reliable baby-sitter in the event that we ever need to take time off!

[Kenickie]

It looks great, well done!

[Lily]

Oh look at it! It looks fantastic, well done you. I hope it's a rip-roaring success.

[Hobbes]

It looks amazing, well done!

[overthehill]

Two and a half years on, we've just bought this. Apart from the front part of shop and the cold store, the building has been empty for about 10 years. The last butcher left about 3 years ago. There's a [rather pretty] tiny flowering creeper growing, from god knows where, across the tiled floor. It's fair to say the building needs a bit of work before we can move in.

haughs-butchers.jpg

[Epponnee Rae]

What a cool building OTH! Congratulations! Is the whole thing yours??

[overthehill]

What a cool building OTH! Congratulations! Is the whole thing yours??

YES!! You can't see it but, beyond the shop, there's a huge 2 bed flat, with its own front door, that can be partitioned off and let separately. The only slight issue might be that the exterior wall adjoins the newly redesigned/regenerated pub garden, next door. Errr ... great for fans of live music.

[purple_dress]

Congratulations!

[Kenickie]

That's very exciting!

[absley]

So exciting, OTH! Is the plan to renovate and move your business in/ live above the shop or will you let it all?

[overthehill]

So exciting, OTH! Is the plan to renovate and move your business in/ live above the shop or will you let it all?

We need to move the shop as soon as we can, as there are issues with the building that we're in at the moment. Even so, there's a lot of work. The building is similar to the one we're in (though not quite as decrepit), in that the previous owners have botched the flat conversion and we need to separate out all the utilities properly. The wiring needs doing before almost anything else. That, and the RSJ above the front door and shop window - apparently rusted through, due to a longstanding leak from the damaged gutter!

We're on our way to the UK today, for the scattering of mum's ashes (amongst other things) and, while we're gone, we've arranged for a local scrap merchant - a cousin of R's - to remove the old cold store and break up the old refrigerated display counter. When we get back, we should have a more or less blank canvas. Should have.

We won't be moving in. Our local town is great fun for visitors, but the main street has a reputation for being noisy. The town is known as a hub for trad music and the pub garden that adjoins the back part of our building has just been completely redesigned to accommodate a huge outside bar and a stage for live gigs - and the first-floor flat overlooks the pub garden! While I had every good intention of letting it to a family, the reality is that it's completely unsuitable for raising young children. We'll probably turn it into holiday accommodation - maybe use it to accommodate sewing retreats!