Second-hand furniture and removals man Dave Dee Hughes today warned that his York family business could now come to an end after more than 50 years.

He is considering winding up because of "the worst trading conditions in the city centre I've ever experienced."

Dave Dee, aged 50, said he was considering calling it a day at his Banana Warehouse in Piccadilly and his Apollo Warehouse in Heslington which would result in the loss of ten jobs - and he said out-of-town shopping centres were partly to blame for luring away his customers.

His warning comes as two long-established city centre businesses - Russell's Cycles and Fads DIY store - - revealed they were closing down due, in part, to out-of-town shopping pressure.

At the same time other York traders are demanding rate cuts.

Dave Dee said: "You can see for yourself that trade has drained away from York. Where there were once daily queues of cars at the entrance to the Piccadilly car park, now you'll find them only on late Friday afternoons.

"I have visited every plot at Clifton Moor and Monks Cross and when you see the shoppers at the BAA McArthurGlen shopping village near Naburn on a Sunday it's easy to see why I closed on Sundays."

Dave Dee said his heyday was in the 1970s, 1980s and the turn of the 1990s.

"In 1991 I was a millionaire and now I have to look for money to pay my bills.

"I am not the only trader who is suffering. Everyone's crying, even the bank managers," he said.

"My problem is simple. I need £5,000 a week to pay the wages and bills. All we have been bringing in is about £2,000. We can't go on like this and there is a real danger that we might close. I have been forced to sell family heirlooms like our vintage cars.

"Just three years ago I had a Mercedes 350 SL, a Lee Francis vintage 1938 car, a vintage Ford Anglia and a vintage motorbike.

"Only six months ago I had 21 staff helped by a contract with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. But now I have a leaseholder car and a motorbike."

He said that the out-of-town centres had compounded for him the growing problem of being forced to slash furniture prices combined with increasing tipping charges. "Two years ago one van-load of disposable house furniture on a clearance would cost between £2 to £3 to take to the tip. Now it costs about £50."

His late father, Billy Hughes started a removals firm in York in 1948 and on retirement 15 years ago, Dave Dee's brother, Melvin, took over Hughes Removals. Meanwhile Dave Dee had already established his own removals business and started his own sales warehouses.

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