Stalwart store to close due to safety row (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Stalwart store to close due to safety row

11:11am Friday 16th February 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

One of Swindon's best-known shops is to close tomorrow in a wrangle over disabled access and safety.

For around 80 years music store Duck Son and Pinker has been selling everything from guitars and drum pedals to sheet music.

Manager Jim Blair explained: "We've been in Swindon for years and a lot of our customers are really upset that we're closing. It's been a shock to them."

The Bath company was launched by William Duck in 1848 and opened a Swindon branch in about 1925.

Moody Blues guitarist Justin Hayward and many other professional musicians bought their first instruments there.

Work was recently carried out on the entrance and stairs of the Swindon store but after being instructed by Swindon Council to install disabled access and other improvements, costing about £20,000, the firm decided it wasn't worth it and is now closing down.

A Swindon Council spokesman said: "Following building alterations undertaken without proper clearance, Duck Son and Pinker has breached regulations to keep its premises safe in the event of a fire and to maintain levels of accessibility for disabled people.

"The business, formerly run over two floors, now only operates on the first floor, restricting access and means of escape.

"Like all other councils, we are legally obliged to enforce these regulations."