Simmonite: New micro-pub planned in Sheffeld city centre after family butcher and fishmonger closes shop

Simmonite on Division Street has closed permanently after battling through the pandemic and major changes which have seen shopper numbers fall. The unit has been closed for a week, its Facebook pages have been removed and the phone rings out. Its entry on Google states it is ‘permanently closed’.

The business, run by Carl Simmonite, bucked a trend by moving out of The Moor Market 10 years ago and into a high profile shop close to Barker’s Pool. It traded seven days a week offering a huge array of hot and cold meat, fish and deli items and beer, and quickly became a favourite with residents and workers heading home.

The shop remained open during the pandemic to ‘help the community’ by providing essential products, according to a Facebook post by Jessica Simmonite in March 2020. She wrote: “We appreciate any custom we get over this difficult and thank each and every one of you for using a small independent business.”

Earlier the same year the shop suffered a smashed window, the second in the time it had been there. Now it is set to be replaced by a micro-pub.

In a statement, agents Worcester Planning Consultancy said: “The applicant is applying for a micro bar, selling real ales and moving away from the typical public house lager drinker. No external changes would be proposed and the proposal would be adjacent to other like minded uses.”