Nicky Clarke cuts Triangle salon

THE COMPANY which operated the Nicky Clarke salon on Manchester’s Triangle development has been placed into liquidation.

Cinis (Manchester) Ltd, which traded as Nicky Clarke Salons and was owned by Nicky and Lesley Clarke, appointed the London office of insolvency firm Leonard Curtis as liquidator last week.

The company, which also has salons in London, Birmingham and Leeds that are run by separate companies and are unaffected by this closure, has just opened a new Manchester salon at The Avenue scheme at Spinningfields. It blamed a decline in traffic at The Triangle Shopping Centre for its demise.

“The Triangle shopping centre has seen a dramatic decline in footfall over the last few years which has had a major impact on the business,” said the group’s chief executive Lesley Clarke.

She added that the internal retail space at the Triangle (excluding external bars and restaurants) was now less than half-full.

“Most of the original high-end fashion brands have now gone. The small number of new retailers which have recently come into the centre are relatively unknown brands which are non-compatible with the original concept of the Triangle. All of these factors therefore meant that continuing with the business became a non-viable option for us.”

The group said that a new company had been set up to operate its Spinningfields unit.

A spokesperson from the Triangle Shopping Centre, which is owned by fund manager Aviva Investors, denied that footfall had dropped had the centre.

She said that Nicky Clarke had traded successfully at the Triangle for nine years and added that other destination stores and restaurants continued to perform well.

“Year-on-year, footfall at the Centre is equivalent to 2009,” said the spokesperson. “In tough retail trading conditions the centre is continuing to attract retailers and shoppers. 

“During the next month we will be announcing two new tenants, which can only help to attract even more people to the centre.”