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Marco’s Deli in Stratford worry for the future as 300 per cent rise in business rates is among extra costs it faces




AN eye-watering hike in rates is causing yet another Stratford business to contemplate its future in the town.

Much-loved family business Marco’s Italian Deli has been trading on Church Street for 31 years. The café and shop sells homemade Italian food and produce. But if a recent bill is correct, its business rates are set to rise from £7,500 a year to £21,000, an increase of almost 300 per cent.

Tony English runs the business with daughter Sara and her Italian chef husband Marco Esposito, who looks after the food side of things and whose name hangs over the door.

The rising rates are so alarming that the family’s only hope is that there has been some kind of administrative error, and have lodged an appeal with the Valuation Office Agency, who have the power to decrease the bill.

Sir Ed Davey during his visit to Stratford, with Stratford Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Manuella Perteghella, and Anthony English, left, and Marco Esposito from Marco’s Deli . Photo: Mark Williamson
Sir Ed Davey during his visit to Stratford, with Stratford Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Manuella Perteghella, and Anthony English, left, and Marco Esposito from Marco’s Deli .                                                                                           Photo: Mark Williamson

“The district council have been helpful but they had to refer us to the rating officers in Durham,” explained Tony. “They have never been here or looked at the business. We’ve got to resubmit all our details and they will have a look at it.

“We will have a major problem if we don’t get a satisfactory result. At the moment we have various allowances but they end in 2026, and when that comes they want another £10,000.

“The government and council should absolutely be doing whatever they can to keep businesses going on the high street.”

Tony concluded: “Hopefully somewhere someone’s made a mistake, otherwise we’re in a desperate situation. The owner of the Pick Thai restaurant over the road has got the same problem. He appealed but has not heard anything. We are being charged more than businesses further into town.”

Marco’s woes were on the agenda when Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey arrived in the town centre on Monday (6th May). He and Stratford parliamentary candidate Manuela Perteghella briefly visited with Tony and Marco to offer support.

“I’m glad you’ve appealed, I am sure Manuela will fight your corner. If they don’t give in immediately there is a campaign to be run there,” said Sir Ed.

Ed Davey during his visit to Stratford on Monday. Photo: Mark Williamson
Ed Davey during his visit to Stratford on Monday. Photo: Mark Williamson

On the subject of what the Lib Dems had to offer small businesses, Sir Ed told the Herald: “Rates have been a problem for many small businesses. In some cases it’s destroying the high street, on top of so many problems small businesses are facing – energy costs and the competition of big e-tailers such as Amazon.

“The Liberal Democrats have been talking for many years now about the need to reform business rates. The Conservatives promised to do that in their 2019 manifesto and failed lamentably to do anything. We’ve got a worked-through proposal to get rid of business rates and replace them with a commercial landowner levy. And for a whole set of reasons we think that would really help small businesses, particularly hospitality.”

While Tony appreciated Mon-day’s visit, he was cynical that a change of government would provide a miracle cure for struggling businesses.

“Whoever gets into power has the same problem, there is no money – whether you’ve got a blue, yellow or red cap on. Whatever they say, our costs are all going up. The answer is to get inflation down, but then how do you pay wages?”

Stratford already has a number of empty retail units which have been added to with the recent loss of Joules, Jack Willis, Fraser Hart and Body Shop, although Pragnell is looking at expanding.

The town has also missed out on levelling-up money which would have been used to revitalise the town centre, creating a new walkway along the middle of Bridge Street. This was despite the local economy being one of the hardest hit by the Covid pandemic.

The cost of living crisis, rising energy bills and Brexit have all added to the hurdles for high street businesses.

Tony continued: “Lighting and heating all needs paying and that’s a problem for small businesses. You can’t just keep putting prices up because if you do that people don’t come in the shop and then you’re even worse off.”

The way Tony sees it, Stratford has its own particular set of challenges.

“If you’ve got a large company you can come into Stratford and take a short lease, then negotiate on that,” he said. “They come in for 12 months and if they can’t make it work then they can just disappear and try somewhere else. Independents can’t negotiate the same sort of terms so they don’t come in. Why should they come in and gamble their money?”

And while Stratford BID was set up to support town centre businesses, it found no favour with Tony, in particular its promotion of the street markets.

Ed Davey during his visit to Stratford on Monday. Photo: Mark Williamson
Ed Davey during his visit to Stratford on Monday. Photo: Mark Williamson

“I’m against the BID – because of the situation with the markets. In my opinion the food vendors aren’t great – there’s that horrible smell of recycled fat frying. Everybody’s business suffers from these outfits and yet they don’t pay rates. Only the council benefits from the rents for the stalls.”

Another hammering for Marco’s has been Brexit.

“Fortunately we only bring in a small amount of goods – and not fresh food, which requires stringent checks,” explained Tony. “We import dried and packaged goods. Before Brexit we’d get it in a week, now there is loads of paperwork and it takes three weeks. And the cost of bringing it over has at least doubled. We’ve had to pass that on to our customers – but you can’t keep asking for more and more and more.”

Tony added: “It doesn’t seem like the recent government actually wants small business to thrive.”

Finishing on a contemplative note, Tony said: “What keeps us going is we love doing it; we love Stratford and have got loyal customers. We’ve been going 31 years, but you can only do so much.”



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