Viva Lewes Issue #162 March 2020

BUSINESS NEWS
Woodruff’s Yard is changing hands again,
and the latest caretaker for the much-beloved
outdoor garden shop is taking it back to its more
homespun origins, more like when it was run by
its founder Matt Woodruff. Fiona Dennis, who
has for three years been the head gardener at
Charleston – and has written some gardening columns
for Viva Lewes – will focus on what she calls
‘sustainable plants of discernment’, largely for
herbaceous borders. She will, she tells us, paint
the wooden hut pink, and rename the place ‘Fi’s
Yard’. “It’ll be English country garden stuff, with
a Bloomsbury feel, but not old-fashioned,” she
adds. There will be some cut flowers and a few
gardening sundries, too, it seems. “We shall definitely
have trugs.” Unlike the outgoing manager,
she won’t be using the shop over the alleyway,
formerly Oyster, which is up for grabs.
The long-empty space at 4, Fisher Street, owned
by the District Council, is to be turned into a
co-working hub, aimed at freelancers in the
digital and creative industries. It seems likely the
Council will form a partnership with The Werks
Group, which runs a number of such hubs in
Brighton, including Coachwerks, Printwerks and
Werkshop30. The building has been empty for
a number of years now, so extensive renovations
will need to take place before the new hub – Fisherwerks?
– is up and running.
After a brief and eventful incarnation as Martyrs
Gallery, the exhibition space in the Star Brewery
is in new hands. Sometime Viva cover artist Neeta
Pedersen has taken over, renaming it Star Brewery
Gallery, thus tipping a wink at its original
name. If the line-up for Neeta’s first exhibition
is anything to go by, we’re in for a treat: she will
display works by local heroes Peter Messer, Tom
Benjamin and Andrew Fitchett (all of whom have
also created previous Viva covers).
And then there were three. Opticians in Lewes,
that is. A couple of months ago we reported in
this space that Barracloughs were closing down
their Lewes outlet; this month it’s the national
chain Vision Express, at the top of School Hill.
Let’s hope that prime spot fills up soon. In the
meantime, we still have Spectrum, Wilson Wilson
& Hancock and Specsavers.
Further up the hill, the hairdressers Newman
and Burtenshaw have moved… but not far. Just
the other side of the Bottleneck, in fact: they’ll
now be doing business in what was most recently
The Little Natural Co, just next to the chippy.
And finally… over to the Needlemakers. We’d
like to point out that Emma, the fashion designer
who runs Along Came She, sells colourful, sustainable
clothing aimed at all ages of womankind,
and not just young mothers, as we previously
suggested in this space. Sorry, Emma! There’s
also talk of an exciting new collective project for
the big space the other side of the Needlemakers
Café, formerly From Victoria, involving a number
of Lewes makers. As ever… watch this space.
Alex Leith
Send any news to alex@vivamagazines.com
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