Hereford 'is a destination for shoppers' - including celebs

The owner of a Hereford fashion shop says the city is defying the national trend of High Street decline and is pulling in customers from other cities and even celebrities.

Calandras Menswear lies in Church Street, a closely-packed array of independent retailers and cafés leading to the city’s cathedral.

“It’s a destination street,” owner Giovanni Calandra said. “People will come here from places like Cheltenham, Gloucester and Worcester.”

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It was named the UK’s fourth best street for independent shops by American Express last December, he pointed out.

Among its customers the shop boasts former Happy Mondays star and county resident Bez, now a “brand ambassador” for the shop, as well other British pop luminaries Richard Ashcroft of The Verve and former Creation Records boss Alan McGee. Actor Tom Hardy has also been known to drop by.

Giovanni Calandra (right) and assistant Hugo Camden of Calandras Menswear in Church Street, Hereford (Image: ROB DAVIES) “Here we can offer customer service, product knowledge, we make it a pleasant shopping experience,” Mr Calandra said. “We take pride in the street and work to keep it clean.”

After 15 years’ trading, he has now also opened a café, La Dolce Vita, on the opposite side of the street. “It’s part of the street’s eclectic mix,” he said.

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His colleague Hugo Camden believes that relative to the city’s more conspicuous High Town, the street “could be promoted more”.

But he adds that the mix of businesses “work well together, are friendly to each other, and suggest each other’s shops to customers”.

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Other independent businesses to have recently opened in the street include esoteric gift shop Enchant, Church Street Deli and Rossiter Books.

Central Hereford currently has the lowest rate of empty shops in ten years, according to Mike Truelove, chief executive of the Hereford Business Improvement District (BID) which represents the city’s retail and hospitality businesses.

If a shop falls vacant, “almost definitely you will get an independent (business) coming forward”, he said.