Ron Godfrey and Matthew Woodcock

Two long-established businesses in York city centre - the 96-year-old Russell's Cycles and 15-year-old Fads DIY store, are to close - both allegedly strangled by out-of-town rivals.

The closures come as other city centre traders are demanding rate cuts, claiming that they have been devalued by out-of town shopping complexes like Monks Cross and the BAA McArthurGlen shopping village near Naburn.

John Anderson, who bought out Russell's Cycles at Toft Green three years ago, ending the Russell family connection, said today that he had made two people redundant and officially intended to close at the end of the month.

He blamed "out-of-town facilities like cycle-selling supermarkets, insurance companies' direct sales and the Internet" for finishing off Russell's, which for decades has been regarded as the top cycle shop in the cycling city.

Mr Anderson, who has worked for Russell's for 15 years - he was an employee when he bought the business - said the squeeze came from out-of-town supermarkets like Tesco at Clifton Moor, which sells occasional consignments of bikes, and Asda at Monks Cross, which sells bikes from its forecourt.

And when US-based Walmart's impact on Asda, its new acquisition, becomes apparent, there was likely to be a further price drop which would drive many out of business, he said.

"The cycle trade has been gently diminishing over the years, a decline which ended in Raleigh selling its site in Nottingham a few weeks ago. The City of York Council has done its best to encourage cycling but you only have to compare the few cyclists emerging from Nestl at the end of the day and the carriageworks sites in York with the hundreds who once poured out of these places.

"Many have forsaken the bicycle for the comfort of a car."

Russell's Cycles was started in 1904 in the Lawrence Street area by Charles Sidney Russell as both a cycle manufacturer as well as a retailer.

In 1927, a second shop was opened in the distinctive triangular premises between Clifford Street and Castlegate, now known as Caff Uno, before the business moved to Toft Green in November, 1990.

Fads, in George Hudson Street, is due to close on March 17. Four people will be made redundant, including manager Michael Emery.

Mr Emery blamed expiry of the lease and pointed out that Rosebys, the new owners of the DIY chain, were already represented on the edge-of-town retail estate at Clifton Moor.

"There was a great deal of pressure from out-of-town trade and that combined with the problem that there was nowhere to park.

"Yellow lines were painted everywhere and there was a new pedestrian crossing authorised right outside the shop which created delivery problems."

Emergency talks between other York city centre traders and the York valuation office will take place on Friday to avoid a full-scale tribunal. They also claim their takings have been affected by out-of-town retailing.

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