Nantwich retailer Webb House Furnishers have bought the former Bratts store building in the town centre to convert it into a new second showroom.
The company, based on Mill Street, have revealed they have purchased the whole building and plan to open all three floors for retail.
It will breath new life into the iconic building which has remained vacant since Bratts ceased trading in December last year.
Neil Webb, owner of Webb House Furnishers, said: “We plan to open at the beginning of December, all being well.
“This store will have our more classic product offering, specialising in comfort and our key brands like Parker Knoll, G Plan and Stressless.”
Neil said they had been looking for an additional property to expand in for a while.
“When this came up it just seemed perfect,” he added.
“The prime location is what we wanted, but we also really like the idea of continuing the property as an independent retailer after Bratts’ long history there.
“It will certainly be Webbs branded, but we may have a slight addition to the title to differentiate between the stores.”
Bratts had been open in the town for more than 180 years in various guises.
Bu the owner Tim Gray retired and there were no family members to continue the business.
Its closure resulted in the loss of 10 staff jobs, and followed the closure of its Northwich store in 2021.
But now Webb House Furnishers is planning to expand and re-open the building on the corner of Pepper Street and Churchyardside.
The company, an independently owned retailer, is also set to celebrate 50 years as a business in 2024.
(Top image, Bratts store in Nantwich – pic by Jaggery under creative commons licence)
Excellent news! The two windows can be attractively displayed. Great to have an independent business there. Now REDUCE the parking fees!!
Great news. Webb’s products are excellent.
a better business than the current duplicate cafes and charity shops, having 9 empty shops in Pepper st is a real worry, look forward to the idea of shopping locally as they have a good range especially the stressless chairs which I have bought from them. With all the new housing in the area this will enhance the town enormously
So pleased it’s going to be a furniture store and not another takeaway
Great news for Webbs and Nantwich
Great to see an empty shop be taken over by a local business, I wish them luck!
Good to see this fine building being used again but hard to see how Webbs will stock it, its not like they can get a 40 ft articulated lorry they as they block Mill street on most days,
Excellent news. After being away for good periods of time over summer on a recent visit into Nantwich I was surprised at the number of closed down shops. I found this sad as Nantwich is an attractive shopping area and has a good number of “small and varied ” shop styles.
Let us hope that CEC does not do anything to add to the Town Centre burden with excessive car park charge increases and a resultant business rate income reduction due to shop closures. CEC can improve income by charging non parking charge locations the same as Crewe & Nantwich pay.