There is real shock across Culcheth after businesses at the CPS Centre were served formal notices ending their licences, effective from February 28. The centre is then set to close on March 1, 2025, so essential safety works can take place.
The owners, Shivat Haminim Capital Ltd, which acquired the centre in 2021, say the decision has been driven by serious health and safety concerns. Their letter to tenants says no fire risk assessment or electrical safety certification was provided when they took over, and that fresh assessments found the electrical installation to be unsatisfactory and hazardous, the fire alarm system inadequate, and the building compartmentation below the standard needed to slow the spread of fire.
To be absolutely clear, if there are life-threatening hazards, they cannot be shrugged off with a bit of duct tape and a hopeful glance towards Warrington Road. Safety has to come first. Nobody wants traders, staff, shoppers or anyone popping into Sainsbury's or the Post Office put at risk.
But the way this has landed is another matter entirely. Businesses, some of which have served Culcheth for decades, have been given almost no time to process the news, let alone plan their futures. That is not just inconvenient, it is devastating. You cannot build a village economy on loyal local traders and then expect them to vanish by the end of the month like a badly parked trolley.
The owners say an additional inspection by Cheshire Fire Authority in December 2024 highlighted the urgency of the problems, with works needed within weeks to remove life-threatening hazards. They also say the repairs are too extensive and complex to carry out while the centre remains open, with costs still unknown.
That may explain the closure, but it does not explain why tenants appear to have been blindsided. If the issues have been developing since ownership changed in 2021, local businesses will quite reasonably be asking why communication has reached this crisis point now. Culcheth is patient, but it is not daft.
Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols said the news had come completely out of the blue and described it as a devastating blow to traders and to the community relying on services including the Post Office and Sainsbury's supermarket. She said she would be meeting affected businesses with Cllr Smith and Cllr Seddon, and had requested urgent copies of Cheshire Fire Authority inspection reports to establish the facts.
The Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft Labour group said it was aware of the eviction notices and was looking into ways to support the community. Cllr Neil Johnson, independent councillor for Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft, also said he was shocked, particularly for the shopkeepers above Sainsbury's, and warned that losing CPS Centre would be a huge blow to the village economy.
That last point matters. CPS Centre is not some anonymous retail box on a bypass. It is part of the daily rhythm of Culcheth, with local jobs, services and familiar faces attached to it. When places like this wobble, the impact spreads well beyond the shop doors.
So yes, fix the fire alarms, sort the electrics, make the building safe. No sensible person wants corners cut on that. But the businesses caught in the middle deserve clarity, urgency, and more respect than a sudden notice and a cloud of uncertainty. Culcheth’s traders are not spreadsheet clutter, they are part of the village’s spine.