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12
Feb
Labour mayor to close his menswear shop
Labour mayor David Skaith is to close his menswear shop — but denied the move is to do with his party’s economic policies.
Mr Skaith was born and raised in Harrogate but now lives in York, where he opened Winston’s of York a decade ago.
It originally sold brands but after covid began selling its own range.
But Mr Skaith, who was elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire two years ago, said he had made the “incredibly difficult decision” to close the premises on Back Swinegate.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ business rates rise has been blamed for some recent high street closures. But Mr Skaith said this wasn’t a factor in his case.
In a social media post, he said “a lot has changed” since he and his dad painted the new shop 10 years ago.
He added:
That’s why when the lease ends at the end of the month, for the time being, Winston’s will be leaving the high street.
It’s been an incredibly difficult decision to make, but the space is no longer right and the business needs a lot of time and energy to take it to the next stage of its journey. To have stayed on Back Swinegate would have been an emotional decision, this is a business decision. Obviously, I’m quite busy at the moment giving my role as mayor my all, and that has to be my priority right now.
I know that some people will jump to the conclusion that this is to do with business rates, but just to be absolutely clear, we’ve always fallen under the threshold and business has been strong for us throughout the last five years. This is about what’s right for my business right now, nothing to do with policy.
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