Viva Lewes Issue #138 March 2018

BUSINESS NEWS
On Mountfield
Road, opposite
Priory School,
Flint Barn Fitness
have opened up a
new gym in the
pretty building
pictured right.
We’ll be taking
up their offer of
trying the facilities
out - including obstacle
training - so
expect more soon
on this one.
There are two more empty spaces to rent in the
basement of the Needlemakers. Perrymans are
‘closing their shopfront to focus on design shows
and online sales’ (plus they’re having a baby);
you’ll still be able to get hold of their furniture at
From Victoria, in the same building, and online
(perrymandesign.com). Next door’s Modal are
going too – a sign in the window says they’re
changing their business plan so as to sell party
accessories.
Round the corner in Castle Ditch Lane, in that
pretty little square/car-park outside Martyrs’
Gallery, Louis Browne has set up a Lewes office
as a notary public, specialising in helping customers
sell property, do business or get married
abroad. We’ve also learnt that Sarah O’Kane
will be exhibiting her circle of artists in Fisher
Street Frames from March 1st.
Fiona Abbott tells us that she’s starting up a
dedicated yoga and personal training studio
on Western Road as a permanent base for her
Soulfit concern. And a big welcome to Clarriots
Care, a branch of the nationwide homecare
service, who’ve set up a new office in town.
It’s all go on Station Street, with rumours of
a Turkish café in what was Tash Tori, and the
Royal Oak looking splendid after an expensive
refurb. Anyone remember those saloon-style
yee-hah swinging
doors?
It’s a long cry
from those
days. While
we’re on pubs
we understand
that the Dorset
is changing
hands, and the
latest managers
of the Rainbow
in Cooksbridge
have called it a
day, after just
three months. We don’t want to double up too
much on what Chloë King has written in Edible
Updates (see pg 77) but it’s worth repeating that
Pestle and Mortar are moving their Asian food
operation into what was Laporte’s, and cooking
hot noodles, too, making us a four-Thai town;
and what was the Real Eating Company (and The
Long Room, and Elphicks) is becoming Trading
Post Coffee Roasters (there’s another branch in
Ship Street, Brighton) run by the people behind
Ooh Ah Café on the seafront.
A few months back we took a visit on this page to
the building works of The Spithurst Hub, outside
Barcombe. This is a state-of-the-art business
centre which will be the HQ of So Sussex, the
company behind the Elderflower Fields Festival,
and much more besides. They offer private
offices, workshop spaces and hot desks to other
businesses, and a conference and meeting space,
too. And there’s a cookery school! It’s all very
swish, for its rural setting.
Finally a mention for the Lewes District
Business Awards, set to launch on March 13th,
with the winners announced in July. Last year
Wave Leisure won the blue-riband ‘Business
of the Year’: start thinking of who you’d like to
nominate in 2018.
Alex Leith
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