PROPERTY
Blooming - Mandale's Joe
Darragh with Brenda Jefford
at Fiori Flowers.
Upper
crust
How Mandale has transformed
a Northallerton shopping mews
T
he owner of sandwich specialists
Fatso’s believes Northallerton’s new
shopping mews is the greatest thing
since sliced bread.
Serving up breakfast and lunch to busy
workers and hungry shoppers is the bread
and butter business for the North-East’s
biggest independent sandwich retailer.
They have 20 stores across the North,
from Sunderland to Manchester, but the
Fatso’s store in Northallerton is set to enjoy
a renaissance when it undergoes a fabulous
refurbishment by property specialists
Mandale.
The Teesside company has transformed
a series of units at Northallerton’s Regency
Mews to revitalise a much-loved part of the
North Yorkshire market town.
Stockton-based Mandale has transformed
an outdated cut between the High Street
and Tesco supermarket into an attractive,
modern shopping destination that retains its
old-world charm.
And Teesside sandwich supremo Rocky
Andrews believes Fatso’s will win a bigger
slice of the lunchtime market when the store
is updated.
“For me, Northallerton keeps going from
36
strength to strength,” said Rocky. “It’s a lovely
town with lovely people who give us a really
loyal customer base.
“We couldn’t be happier there – especially
when we’ll soon have a brand spanking new
store.
“We’d been in the same unit for 15 years
and it was starting to look tired, but Mandale
is a company that believes in putting its
money where its mouth is. They’re always
willing to do what’s good for local business –
and the new unit will look fantastic.
“In all honesty, we’d like to stay here
another 15 years – but we need everyone
else to thrive too. Our business relies on a
thriving high street and developments like
this can only help.
“Fatso’s is very much a lunchtime
operation that relies on hungry office and
shop-workers, students and shoppers, so the
more successful other businesses are, the
more successful we are.”
A former contestant on TV’s The
Apprentice, Rocky believes the attractive new
walkthrough from high street to supermarket
will attract more shoppers.
“Regency Mews is a good end of the town,
underpinned by the supermarket, and I’m
convinced the new shopping parade will
increase footfall from the High Street.”
Northallerton’s long High Street provides
a wide variety of shops, restaurants, pubs
and cafes. National retailers such as Costa,
Pizza Express, New Look, Fat Face, Wilko,
Waterstones, Vodafone and Claire's feature
alongside local independent retailers such as
the famous Bettys tearooms, Lewis & Cooper
and Barkers department store.
Two of the longest established stores,
Fiori Flowers and Judy’s Hair Salon, are both
settling into refurbished units on Regency
Mews.
Judy Wear can’t imagine her business
being anywhere but Regency Mews. The
lifelong owner of Judy’s Hair Salon, she
opened her first salon there in the mid-1960s
in a unit now occupied by Fatso’s, just a few
years after starting out in the hairstyling
business as an enthusiastic 19-year-old.
“I can’t remember anything different,”
admits Judy, 76, who has swapped a first
floor unit for a renovated ground floor salon,
assisted by long-serving staff, Lorna and
Tracy. “It’s the perfect place for us – and I
don’t see why it can’t be the place to be.
“Mandale have done a nice job with our