Can £250,000 and a Crab Shack claw back diminishing shopping area?

Wednesday 04 April 2018

It’s hoped a new restaurant, paving, and street furniture, including a drinking fountain, will be the magic potion to revitalise Halkett Street in Town, which currently has six shops lying empty.

The last year has seen a number of shops - including big name brands Greggs and Austin Reed - close along one of the main streets in St. Helier’s shopping hotspot, leaving it empty, quiet and in need of a facelift.

Now plans to spend a quarter of a million pounds on resurfacing the area, as well as the investment by JPRestaurants to open their third Crab Shack restaurant in Market Street, which connects Halkett Street to the central market, are providing a new hope of attracting shoppers to the area.

Owners of Halkett Street shops and businesses are being asked to vote on the new look of the apparently much-needed new paving scheme, which has been whittled down to include small granite sett paving, similar to the newly refurbished Charing Cross pavement. The new plans put forward by the St. Helier Roads Committee also include a heritage plaque and lighter coloured stonework to help visually impaired pedestrians after their original plans proved too expensive.

Pictured: A number of shops lie empty along Halkett Street causing footfall in the area to drop. 

At a parish meeting last week, the committee voted to put this plan out to consultation with business owners in the area as they felt it would help improve the area, while being in-keeping with its heritage feel.

The idea to renew the damaged paving caused by wear and tear along Halkett was first agreed in 2014, but they were put on hold due to building work of the new Tesco Alliance supermarket on the corner, as the parish felt the major development could damage the new surface.

Now the supermarket is up and running, the committee has decided to go ahead with the resurfacing work, for which they allocated £250,000 from the States' 2017 parish rate payment received through the 2018 Budget debate.

Pictured: St. Helier Roads Committee have agreed to go ahead with the plans to resurface Halkett Street now the Alliance Supermarket development has finished. 

Geraint Jennings, St. Helier's Procureur du Bien Public, told Express: “Halkett Street has been in need of repaving for some years; the state of the surface has been damaged by the wear of many delivery vehicles serving the street." 

He added: “Following consultation with traders, and possible advice from Planning, a final design including street furniture and hanging baskets will be brought to the Committee for a decision. As an important commercial street in the historic heart of Town, adjacent to the markets and overlooked by crags and ramparts, Halkett Street deserves, as do all its users, a renewal that will be attractive and cost-effective.”

This year’s refurbishment of the area has also been welcomed by the Town Centre Manager, Daphne East, who says despite some interest in the empty shops, leases have not been taken up by businesses as yet. However, she hopes that will change with this investment, as well as the opening of Crab Shack. 

Pictured: Jersey's Town Centre Manager hopes the opening of the new Crab Shack restaurant by JPRestaurants in Market Street will also enhance the area. 

“Halkett Street refurbishment has been on the cards for some time now and I’m delighted that the St Helier Roads Committee have voted to refurbish this area in the near future. There are several vacant premises in Halkett Street and the impending refurbishment will enhance the area and bring further interest and footfall. The opening of the Crab Shack in Market Street is very exciting and will complement the wonderful Relish Delicatessen, Rosie’s Tea Room and new to the area; Pizza Projekt,” she commented.

She added that the opening of the Alliance Tesco supermarket has already started to drive footfall in the area.