Tips for shopping in Uckfield during May
Work is under way at the Market Hall in Uckfield and it is rumoured that a pet shop will be taking over a large proportion of the building.
As changes are made to the building internally Sew n Sew is no longer accessible from inside the Market Hall. Instead customers enter through doors in Bell Walk.
Trevor Brown and Lydia Butler who run the shop say the change has worked well for them and they are making the most of the additional wall space. “We can put out more stock,” said Trevor.
Furniture Hut premises back on the market
Around the corner and fronting on to the car park the Furniture Hut premises are back on the market.
Chris Lawson, of Commercial Agents Lawson Commercial, said the present occupants would carry on trading until somebody else took over.
He added: “This is a nice shop with a 55 foot window frontage and space of 4,500 sq ft over two floors and being close to Tesco, McDonalds and Halfords ought to appeal to one of the bigger boys but whether it will in this market I don’t know. We will have to wait and see.”
Lawson Commercial will also be handling the marketing of the shop being vacated by Sweet in the High Street opposite The Picture House which has come to the end of its lease.
There’s no news yet on who will be taking over 168 High Street, last used as a charity shop by Ufosa, or the former Fludes at 51 High Street but contracts are being drawn up for both shops.
See works of new equestrian artist at Diane Hutt Gallery
The works of a new equestrian artist, Louise Mizzen, are now available at the Diane Hutt Gallery at the top of Uckfield High Street. Louise trains her horses and studies them in detail enabling her to produce the fine equestrian art. To learn more visit the gallery's website.
It's worth having a look too at the gallery's Facebook and Twitter pages to keep up with new arrivals.
New manager at George Moss jewellers
There’s a new manager at George Moss jewellers.
Leigh Jones, who has 30 years experience in the jewellery trade, has joined the existing team as an additional member of staff.
Managing director Robert Suckling said the aim is to further improve customer service and keep standards high.
Leigh has moved to George Moss from Brighton where she worked with one company for 13 years.
She said: “I’m really enjoying being in Uckfield. Everybody is lovely and it’s particularly nice that people have the time to talk when they come in to see us.”
Apple products available at PC Ink and Media
In-house support and repair of Apple products are now offered at the Uckfield High Street shop PC Home and Office.
Accessories are on sale there too including Apple Macbook, iPhone and iPad cases and covers.
Jack Dopson is pictured below with some of their computers.
All new Apple computers including iPads can be ordered for next day collection from the store at the same as Apple Store prices.
Mr Dopson said: “We offer initial set up training and transfer of data support for all new Apple products, should you need it, right here in store or at your home. Come and talk to Jack our Apple wiz who lives and breathes Apple but who talks in a way everyone can understand.”
PC Home and Office also offers a range of pre-owned laptops both PC and Apple to suit all budgets.
Pre-owned equipment is supplied direct from Dataserv UK who are one of the largest IT asset recovery companies in the UK with a worldwide operation.
Their own client base includes many large manufacturers and corporations who have a requirement to dispose of surplus or redundant equipment.
Mr Dopson stressed PC Home and Office does not source equipment from another other third party so ensuring it can trace the equipment and ensure all data from the previous owner has been removed. See more on the Dataserv website. http://www.dataservuk.com
Appetite to sell sweets and milk shakes
Loose sweets from jars, milk shakes and floats – fizzy drinks with ice cream on top - will soon be available at Appetite the Uckfield takeaway.
The shop is hoping to plug a gap left by Sweet, the High Street shop which closed at the end of April when its lease ran out.
Appetite, which is known for its homemade fare, has been constantly evolving since its move to Church Street at the beginning of the year.
More changes are taking place with additional work surfaces being installed along with burnt wood shelving – where the sweet jars will be displayed.
"Up to now we haven’t done a lot for kids. We work closely with businesses and now we hope the kids will like our sweets, ice-cream, milk shakes and floats,” said Barry Ashford, who runs the shop with Arthur Mieczkowski.
Pipedreams is ready for summer
PipeDreams has transformed into a summer surf shop with ski-wear back in storage. All that's needed now is sunshine.
Julie Hobbs, who runs the business with her husband David, said they are now fully stocked with wet suits, rash vests – for wearing under wet suits and as sun protectors for water sports – flip flops, board shorts, bikinis and plenty of summer clothing.
A new brand of scooter has arrived. The high end stunt Madd Gear Pro is proving very popular but entry level scooters are still in great demand.
Upstairs seating area opens at Hartfields
Hartfields Produce Store has opened a new seating area
upstairs where they serve coffee, homemade cakes, chilli, soup and salads.
They also plan to start serving light breakfasts such as bacon sandwiches and scrambled egg on toast.
James Hartfield is pictured, above, in the new seating area.
Easy-wear cottons available at Joli Couture
More summer stock is arriving at Joli Couture. New to the shop is the brand Caffe which focuses on easy-wear cottons, summer dresses and tops.
Also new is Little Mistress created by Lauren Pope of The Only Way is Essex fame.
Shop owner Kay Bevan said the first styles have arrived and are reasonably priced occasion wear. One dress selling for £42 would look great with a jacket during the day but then be suitable for the evening too.
Don’t forget there are sun beds upstairs at Joli Couture.
Affordable and popular fashions arrives at Tres Joli
At Tres Joli, which is also owned by Kay, new arrivals include the brand Glamourous which is affordable and proving popular with all ages and the Danish brand Ichi which includes printed T-shirts.
New at Ryan's of Uckfield - ice-cream and milk shakes
Ryans Ryan’s of Uckfield is delighted to be selling ice-cream from Marshfarm Dairy with a choice of waffle and sugar cone cornets, including extra long Long John sugar cones.
Eight flavours of ice cream are available including pistachio, rum and raisin, peppermint choc chip, heavenly honeycomb, very vanilla, succulent strawberry, chocoholic heaven and clotted cream.
There will also be sorbets from Purbeck Ice Cream in roses and Joe’s Cider flavours. Look out for edible ice cream boats too.
Ryan’s is also introducing milk shakes in a variety of flavours, mainly sweets such as Maltesers, Oreos, jelly bean, honeycomb and others.
New Pineapple stock available at Limelight
Strappy tops, crop tops, slash neck tops are among new Pineapple stock just arrived at Limelight the dance and gymwear shop at the top of Uckfield High Street.
There are also cropped hoodies, shorts, joggers, baggy roll top bottoms in lots of different colours and a variety of dance bags and holdalls.
Chilean wine on offer at Noble Wines
It’s always worth popping into Noble Wines to check on the latest special offers.
At the moment they have Chilean wine in a variety of grapes, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon, available at £10 for two bottles – a very good deal says shop owner Charles Mears-Lamb.
There’s still some non-vintage Pierre Darcys Champagne on offer too reduced from £24.99 to £19.99.
Street party accessories available at Bargain Store
Paper plates, flags, table cloths and napkins in red, white and blue and designed especially for Diamond Jubilee parties are on sale at the Bargain Store.
Shop owner Chris Sharp said stock is selling quickly but there are no problems in getting more. He’s happy to make special deals for people buying in bulk.
(Added to site Tuesday, May 1st, 2012)
