Rising costs from Brexit and cost-of-living force Stratford's Bonds Lifestyle store to close

Independent retail in Stratford has been dealt a huge blow with the sudden closure of Bonds.

Occupying a glass-fronted outlet on the Dodwell estate in Evesham Road, it sold a broad range of interiors, gifts, clothes and plants and housed a popular restaurant/café.

Originally it was a much smaller antiques emporium housing individual concessions, but when couple Zoe and Richard Biggs took over the business nine years ago they gradually expanded and changed it into a ‘destination’ outlet and renamed it Bonds Lifestyle and sold modern products.