Former stationery shop up for auction

The building of a former independent stationery shop, Edwards, is due to go up for auction. 

Edwards Stationery, which was based at 7 Bank Street, closed last September due to a rise in costs.

Now, ten months later and the building is listed for auction on 10th July at a guide price of £90,000, with the estate and lettings agent Strakers saying the space would be an ‘ideal investment.’

Former owner of Edwards, Kamlesh Patel, had been running the shop for eight years before it closed and said that although the shop survived the Covid lockdowns, rising costs following the war in Ukraine made it no longer viable.

The Grade II listed building has been a stationery shop in the town since the 1980s, stocking various supplies including pens, notebooks, envelopes and art materials.

In its description of the building, Strakers said, “The vacant ground floor unit comprises a large ‘L’ shaped retail area with a kitchen/storage area and WC at the rear. It has an internal floor area of about 76m² (817ft²). Double door access at the rear of the unit to an allocated parking space. Electric heating with EICR valid until 2029.”

Records show that in 1910 the building was a draper’s shop thought to have sold cloth and material for dressmaking. In 1938 it became the Melksham Agricultural Co-operative Society and it was reported at the time in the Western Daily Press that the building caught fire causing hundreds of pounds of damage.