Wickes Sheffield: City centre DIY store to close this August as staff say Clean Air Zone 'killed' business
A Sheffield branch of DIY chain Wickes will reportedly close this August - and the city’s Clean Air Zone may be to blame.
Staff at the trade suppliers on Moore Street have told The Star it will shut for good on August 16.
The Star has been unable to contact Wickes’ head office for comment for over a week.
However, staff at the store say they believe the closure is a result of Sheffield’s Clean Air Zone that was rolled out in February 2023.
A member of staff at Wickes told The Star: “To be honest, when the Clean Air Zone started, business dropped like a stone.
“We’re sat right in the middle of it, and white vans traders don’t want to pay £10 a visit.
“It’s been very difficult to keep it going.
“The store has been here 30 years, I think. I think people will miss us.”
It comes after motorcycle dealers Via Moto and SMC - on Shoreham Street and Walker Street respectively - announced this year it would be leaving the city centre as well.
Via Moto’s owner Matthew Gilder told The Star in June how lorries delivering motorbikes and parts up to four times a week, and a valeting firm that came weekly, all paid the £50 charge and passed it on to them. It came on top of a rise in interest rates, soaring energy bills and a difficult market, he added.
The Clean Air Zone charges older diesel vans and taxis £10-a-day to travel on, or within, the inner ring road. Older coaches, buses and lorries are charged £50.
Sheffield City Council introduced the Clean Air Zone in February 2023 to reduce nitrogen dioxide levels around the city by encouraging the owners of the worst polluting vehicles to upgrade to greener forms of transport.
Air pollution reportedly contributes to around one in 20 deaths in Sheffield each year.
The council claims the number of the most polluting vehicles in the Clean Air Zone has reduced by two thirds since the CAZ launched.