Phoenix will rise after eviction

Phoenix Wines in Cirencester is in the process of securing a new premises after being unceremoniously evicted from its shop on Castle Street before Christmas.

Owner Simon Griffiths says a change in managing agent resulted in an unnecessary dispute which took an unexpectedly dramatic turn.

“We spoke to the new agent two or three months before our lease was due to end in July and had a verbal agreement to continue as we were for another three years,” he says. “We shook hands and thought that was the job done. But when they sent the lease through, I spotted that a very important clause had gone missing.”

Historically, the landlord had acknowledged there was a substantial damp patch in the shop which would cost an estimated £15,000 to repair. The missing clause stated that, although the landlord wasn’t going to address the problem, they wouldn’t hold the tenant responsible for it either.

While Griffiths tried to negotiate the reinstatement of the clause, he was switched to a monthly rolling lease. He says: “In mid-November they told us if we didn’t agree to the lease in its current form they would kick us out at the end of the month when we were all paid up. In the Landlords & Tenants Act, they were perfectly within their entitlement to do so but I thought no landlord would be stupid enough to kick out paying tenants in the current climate, and I’d also thought no landlord would be that vindictive. I called his bluff, but apparently he wasn’t bluffing after all.”

On the first day of December, staff arrived for work at Phoenix Wines to discover repossession notices and signs from the bailiff.

“Thankfully, I’ve got a pub around the corner as well,” Griffiths says, “so we did a little bit of a pop-up shop in there. We managed to do about £3,000 worth of sales, but normally in December we’d be looking to do £40,000-£50,000. I’ve got the warehouse, but that is now full of £70,000 worth of stock that was bought in ready for Christmas.

“We’ve got the website back up and running, but because of the way everything had to just come straight out of the shop and get shoved in the warehouse, I’ve made it very limited because we didn’t want to have someone ordering something and then me not being able to find it among all of the boxes.”

Disarming a robber

It may sometimes seem that the entire world is gunning for the independent wine trade. Ironically, this may no longer be true of armed robbers.

The villain who pointed his weapon at staff at Le Cellier de Vinalgros, a wine shop in Brussels, was about to make off with €110 in takings when manager Michael Thill decided to appeal to his better nature.

“We explained to him that the situation of small shopkeepers was very dire,” Thill explains. “That after having paid all our charges, salaries, taxes and other expenses, we had nothing left.

“We also explained to him that there was no more cash in circulation, because of the successive crises and because the few people who spend money with us paid by card.”

The robber told the team they could keep the money, and asked for help leaving the store.

“He felt sorry for us and the sad reality we are in today,” said Thill – who suggested that other small-time crooks should consider a change of career due to the dire straits of their usual victims.

Lambert’s acid burn

Birmingham indie closes retail space

Wine Freedom, owned by Sam Olive and Taylor Meanwell, closed at the end of November.

The shop and bar, situated in a development that was part of the former Bird’s Custard factory in Digbeth, originally opened in 2020. The company will continue to operate as a wholesaler.

The reality of Scotland’s deposit return scheme has been sinking in fast among suppliers, who fear a trade barrier with the rest of the UK if the proposals go ahead in their current form. With the registration deadline passing this week, the time for polite diplomacy is drawing to a close. Daniel Lambert, who says he will be forced to stop selling in Scotland, has accused the Scottish government of being “on acid” when it drew up the plans.

Not a fan, then?

An American tasted Buckfast for the first time and reviewed it on Reddit. “Almost like a dead animal in a bird’s nest,” he declared. “Akin to being under a bridge on one’s knees orally pleasing a vagrant while simultaneously drinking liquified meth through a dirty rag ... the Vatican needs to send an exorcist over to Buckfast Abbey.”