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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
World
Joshua Hartley

Arnold chippy owner 'in the dark' over plans to demolish family business

The owner of a family chippy has said he feels 'left in the dark' over plans to demolish his building.

The proposal for 135-141 Front Street in Arnold involves the creation of nine one or two-bedroom apartments as well as a ground level commercial unit after the demolition of four existing high street shops, two of which are currently occupied.

Bambos Charalambous, 50, the owner of Blue Circles Fish Bar, whose family have run the shop since 1990, previously told Nottinghamshire Live that he was "gutted" shortly after finding out about the plans.

Mr Charalambous has now said that he feels as if he is being 'left in the dark' as he awaits a council decision.

"I've still heard nothing about it since really - I've been left in the dark the whole time," he said.

"I was hoping it would be decided in January but the anxious wait has continued for longer and now I have been told that it will be a while.

"It would be good to have some certainty over the future of my business, with Covid and this all it has been way too much to deal with.

"It doesn't help with planning for the future of the business, which I wanted to give to my kids."

A number of Mr Charalambous' 15 children have worked in the chippy, which was bought from his father who had before worked there with his brother.

Mr Charalambous, talking to Nottinghamshire Live in December, said: "We are trying to get on with things as much as we can but the whole point of this was to have something to give to my kids.

"The way it is going now I would not be able to give them anything. Everyone in the family has had their life turned upside down.

"I have brought a lot of my kids up here, to be hard-working and to earn something for yourself and now that place might be gone."

After hearing of the plans to demolish the shopfronts on Front Street a petition was set up by locals to oppose them, which has reached more than 1,700 signatures.

Staff at neighbouring business, the Front St Cafe, also questioned their future when they learnt of the plans in November 2021.

Manager Ramazan Goksal, 37, said: "We do not know what we are going to do next really, it's made everything uncertain.

"We don't know how this is going to go and that isn't really helpful for us, we have been here for three years now and would definitely prefer to stay here.

"The affect on our loyal customers if we moved would be bad and for older customers it would be especially bad if they had to go further, as this is a good location at the minute.

"We need to talk the landlord to see if we could maybe stay here and get a good offer."

The application, submitted by Michael Zucker, is currently pending review by Gedling Borough Council.

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