Lanigan & Hulme to move from centre of Manchester

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 4, 2023

Lanigan & Hulme is to relocate its menswear boutique in central Manchester to nearby Knutsford in Cheshire.

The business was co-launched by a former senior manager with upscale English menswear brand Hackett Neil Hulme in September 2017. He cited the spiralling costs of city-centre trading for the move to to the affluent commuter town.

He told TheBusinessDesk that there were a number of factors to that combined to make operating from the in-demand Royal Exchange Arcade in the city centre no longer viable. Among them were parking charges, lack of support from the city, a decline in mid-week footfall since the pandemic, and mostly the decline in office-based working in the city centre for its core customer.

That’s an issue many city centre retailers have had to deal with in recent years and is the primary cause of even some big names shutting their city flagships in favour of regional and suburban stores.

“As a company we’re doing great, online and at the weekends, but I could close from Monday to Friday and it wouldn’t make any difference, frankly,” he explained. But he added that while “work culture has changed”, in many ways “our premium brands fit in well with the smart casual way of dressing.” 

He added: “City centres need to do something to draw people in. Independent traders are what gives a city character. There’s very little independent menswear in the city anymore, it’s so boring. I thought Manchester was better than that.”