Gallery set to close after 30 years
Jan 10 2008 by Chloe Griffiths, The Journal
AN ART gallery owner will be hanging her final painting in her city centre venue this month after 30 years of trading.
Anne Collier has run Colliers in Milburn House in Newcastle for the last three decades.
But the 56-year-old has decided it is time to close the doors on the popular gallery and framing shop on Dean Street, off the Quayside, and is holding a closing-down party to commemorate her years at the venue.
Customers and art-lovers are being invited to celebrate the end of an era gathering at the gallery on January 18, while a 25% sale is running throughout this month, enabling people to pick up a bargain, or even a piece of the furniture.
While Ms Collier says she had no intention of renewing the 30-year
lease which is due to run out in August, she says the “final straw” in her decision to close the gallery has been the decline of business since the area was pedestrianised. Since the city council decided to close the street to traffic, Ms Collier says her takings have been down nearly 50%, and she is now losing up to £500 a week.
But the owner says far from being sad about leaving the gallery which has become her second home, she is looking forward to getting out of the basement building to launch her new mobile framing service.
She said: “After a 30-year life sentence in that basement, I can’t wait to be getting out. I’m extremely happy to be leaving – I want to see the light, the birds and get out in the fresh air.
“The lease was up in August after 30 years, but I asked if I could leave early. I was losing money every week.
“The road being pedestrianised was the final straw – lots of my customers just couldn’t face coming in to Newcastle. They couldn’t work out how to get to the shop or where to park.”
Despite admitting a lot of her regular customers were “devastated” to hear of the closure, Ms Collier says she hopes her mobile framing service will fill the gap – and possibly even cost less without all the overheads from Milburn House.
She will also still be publishing prints by John Coatsworth and reproductions of antique maps, while she will still be able to offer Walter Holmes prints.
She said: “I just don’t think the city council always realise the knock-on effect of the things they do.
“The Quayside is so much quieter since it’s been pedestrianised and there’s hardly any passing traffic. But the changes are not the only reason I’m leaving, I’m ready to close and I’m really positive about it.” Ms Collier says when she took over the shop in 1977 she had no idea she would still be there so many years later. She said: “I took it over because it was cheap, it was only £25 a week, it’s now £630 a week and it’s like a dungeon – I can’t wait to get out.”
Ms Collier is now expecting to move out at the end of this month, but is waiting to hear when the new tenants – expected to be a restaurant – want to move in. A Newcastle City Council spokesman defended the decision to pedestrianise the road. He said: “There should be no reason why the pedestrianised zone has a detrimental effect on the business.”
For more information on Ms Collier’s mobile framing service, call 07908 487589.
