Well-established estate agency moves out of 'ghost' street in Northampton town centre after 31 years at site

A well-established estate agency has moved out of a major Northampton town centre street blighted by controversy.

Richard Greener estate agency has closed its office in Bridge Street after an amazing 31 years at the site.

A message on the now vacant shop window reads ‘After 31 years of moving you, we have now moved ourselves’. The company has relocated to Scirocco Close in Moulton Park.

Richard Greener has been contacted for further comment about the move.

Bridge Street has been blighted by controversy for more than a decade now. The former Fat Cats Cafe and Balloon Bar building has been a blight on Bridge Street since a huge fire in January 2012, which was accidentally started by a roofer's torch. The building, built in 1814-16, has been held up by eyesore scaffolding ever since.

More recently, there was a massive fire once again at the building in August 2023, causing the street to be partially closed ever since.

Offering a view from his office, Nick Pattison, of Jackson Stops estate agents in Bridge Street, recently said: “It looks a mess. Fat Cats has been like that for 10 years now, with all the scaffolding. It’s gradually becoming a bit of a ghost street.

"There are a few businesses leaving to relocate. We’ve been in this building for more than 100 years so it will take a bit more than this to get rid of us, but we are feeling it a bit.”

“We’re sitting here in the dark waiting to see what happens in the future.”

Works to make the building safe, which will subsequently allow the street to reopen, are ongoing and are expected to be completed by the landlord, AZ Investments, no later than April 12.

Elsewhere in the street, estate agency Ashby Lowery has closed its shop and merged with Taylors Sales and Letting Agents just over the road.

CI Aesthetics beauty salon has also vacated Bridge Street this year. And the once popular Retro Bar nightclub closed down in 2023.