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Further blow for North Street as Bishop’s Stortford estate agent Savills moves out to Wickham Hall




One of Bishop’s Stortford’s oldest and most important town centre buildings is vacant this week.

Savills estate agent has quit its North Street base at No 19, moving its team of five to a new home at New Mead Barn, Wickham Hall.

The departure is a further blow to the street that was once the focus of civic celebrations.

Savills former North Street office
Savills former North Street office

Savills’ grade II listed offices – the iconic former Chequers Hotel – join a growing tally of empty historic buildings in the street.

Barclays bank and maternity wear and baby clothing retailer Jojo Maman Bebe have left the town centre completely.

The Bishop’s Stortford Independent has moved to Palmers Lane and Oxfam has closed its bookshop and consolidated its operations in South Street.

On the move
On the move

Like Savills, estate agent Knight Frank has moved to Wickham Hall and restaurant No 14 has yet to open in the landmark white stag building.

And Florence Walk, which has several empty units, was up for auction last month.

In 2020, Savills said that it was relocating to premises in the Corn Exchange now occupied by Zeyna restaurant but the move never happened.

Felicity Walker, head of office for Savills in Bishop’s Stortford and Loughton, said that it was “business as usual”.

Bishop’s Stortford BID joint managers Karen Burton, left, and Madeleine Lees
Bishop’s Stortford BID joint managers Karen Burton, left, and Madeleine Lees

“We’re committed to continuing to offer clients expert local knowledge of the Bishop’s Stortford market through our new office base,” she said.

“The only change is that we’ll be working more closely with our Loughton team, with team members using both offices as a base.”

Karen Burton, joint manager of Bishop’s Stortford BID, which represents town centre traders, said: “It’s disappointing to see another estate agent leave the town for an out-of-town location, but it’s a business model that is clearly working for that industry in general and part of the wider evolution of the high street.

“I’m optimistic that the lovely, double bay-fronted, listed building Savills operated from will be snapped up by a new business in the not-too-distant future.

“The BID’s aspirations for a partial weekend pedestrianisation of North Street are certainly generating some positive interest in that part of town, whetting the appetite of would-be tenants.”

No 19 North Street first opened in 1684 as a coaching and posting inn. According to Paul Ailey’s www.stortfordhistory.co.uk website, by 1729 it was known as the Bell Inn, but by 1788 it was the Chequers.

The hotel’s popularity soared after the arrival of the railway in 1842, but its heyday was between 1903 and 1946 when the landlord was Joe Brazier.

He gifted Sworder’s Field to the town and gave Bishop’s Stortford Football Club its first ground at Rhodes Avenue.

The hotel closed in 1961 and became the office of Sworders estate agents before the business was taken over by Savills in 2001.



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