The Ludlow branch of TG Jones, formerly WH Smith, on King Street is set to close in January.
The Ludlow store does not yet appear on TG Jones’s official list of closures, but staff in the shop are telling customers that it will close. If confirmed, it will leave a substantial hole in Ludlow’s high street.
WH Smith was once, like Woolworths, one of the signature names of the British high street. Its shops became increasingly tired, but the high street business was still profitable when WH Smith decided to sell it. It made a trading profit of £32 million in the year to August 2024.
WH Smith wanted to concentrate on its much larger travel business, particularly shops at railway stations, airports and hospitals. It put its 480 high street stores up for sale and they were bought by Modella Capital, a private investment firm specialising in retail businesses undergoing restructuring.
The eventual deal was worth up to £40 million, but Modella paid only £10 million upfront. A further £20 million depended on cash generated by the business and another £10 million on the realisation of tax assets.
The financial relationship between Modella and TG Jones is complicated. Modella also lent TG Jones £10 million at 12% interest. It owns the TG Jones name and charges the retailer a royalty for using it.
Modella has attracted considerable criticism for its approach to distressed retailers.
It bought The Original Factory Shop in February 2025. The business later went into administration and all 137 of its stores closed. It had employed around 1,180 people. We had nearby branches in Leominster and Bridgnorth.
Modella has fared better with Hobbycraft. That business is still trading after restructuring, although stores have closed.
TG Jones is now undergoing its own drastic restructuring. In July the High Court approved plans that allow up to 150 of the former 480 WH Smith stores to close.
I don’t think this sort of financial engineering serves the best interests of town centres and communities.
WH Smith certainly needed a refresh on the high street. Its format was reassuringly familiar but increasingly tired. But replacing one of the best-known names on the British high street with TG Jones has plainly not worked. The company itself has acknowledged that losing the WH Smith name damaged consumer awareness.
Now Ludlow looks set to lose its branch altogether.
The loss of such a large shop in the town centre is going to hurt. Footfall is already down this year. In August it was 9% lower than a year earlier and there is a consistent trend towards lower footfall. I’ll write more about that when I have completed my analysis of the data.
The next question is what happens to the building.
It could go the way of the former Costa Coffee on the opposite side of King Street, which remains an absolute eyesore. The TG Jones unit is probably too large for most independent retailers.
There will inevitably be the traditional cry of “Wetherspoons!”. That seems to happen every time a large unit becomes empty in Ludlow.
I would much rather see another substantial retailer move in. A clothing or outdoor shop such as Mountain Warehouse would fit Ludlow far better and give people another reason to come into the town centre.
That matters because these are uncertain times for Ludlow’s high street.
At the same time as shops are struggling for footfall, getting into town is becoming increasingly expensive. The return fare from the Eco Park on Diamond Bus is £6.
Compare that with other historic visitor destinations. Chester’s park and ride costs £2.50 return, or £5 for a group of up to five people. York, which attracts vastly more visitors than Ludlow, charges £4 return. Shrewsbury is £2 return.
So, travelling into Ludlow from the Eco Park costs three times as much as using the park and ride in Shrewsbury.
Meanwhile M&S Food is doing a roaring trade outside the A49 bypass. It is creating another powerful reason for people to shop outside the town centre rather than in it.
None of these changes on its own will determine the future of Ludlow town centre. Taken together, they matter.
One of our largest high street shops is closing. Footfall is falling. A major new food retailer is drawing trade to a site beyond the bypass. And visitors using the park and ride are being charged considerably more than they would be in much larger tourist cities.
Ludlow has an exceptionally strong town centre but we cannot assume that will always be enough.
We need to start taking the cumulative impact seriously.