Last Friday (9/2/24) was pivotal as the first 'time out' for our HotWalls Urban Gallery (HUG) concept in The Walk, Ipswich. With over twelve-months invested in reconnaissance, due diligence and seeing what unfolds in the unhealthy scheme of things in a town with above national average empty shops, we have reluctantly withdrawn our business loan application for the HUG installations and our first artisan coffee shop prospect. Having failed to reach terms with the sales agent of an ailing café with no verifiable turnover, and then with the new letting agent for commercial premises that have lain empty for over 14 months, we are left wondering what more could have be done to help get this deal over the line? The shop unit featured in our blog today, one of nine similar long-term empty high street properties, has been empty for 10 years, or more. And yet, it seems no one wants to improve the appearance of this ailing shopping centre with a HUG and new lease of life. Maybe tomorrow?

For the past 12 months we have been focused on setting-up our first artisan coffee shop combination in this shopping arcade called 'The Walk', in Ipswich town. Our interest in this location began with the shop next door (pink chair) which has been on the market since before December 2022. Deal fatigue over the viability of this business reached pivot point in January 2024. At the same time, The Walk shopping centre has, evidently, passed to new owners, and Ipswich Borough Council announced plans to seek expressions of interest in their empty shops regeneration grant scheme. These incentives forced us to enquire about the this shop next door which has been empty since before December 2022. A meeting was held last Friday (2nd February) with the new owners agent and we have subsequently made a reasonable offer to upgrade the shop and the 9 other vacant shops in the shopping centre with our Urban Gallery. We will post more details about this springboard in due course. Thanks for you time.

One of the great things about writing our blog is detailing the nature of things that need a little more explaining. Our portmanteau 'Treevolution' is one such topic. Coming from a carpentry background, it is not hard to figure how important wood has been to the modern world from houses and bridges, to ships, farming and widgets. It remains one of the most versatile natural resources in the world and as fundamental to human progress as fire. The 'chicken and egg' debate could easily be 'fire and wood'. Indeed, firewood is still the leading renewable energy resource in the world today. The UK alone imports 9 million tonnes of firewood bioenergy every year. At micro level, one of the great attributes of carpentry is the artisan's ability to recycle wood for another purpose. And it is this recycling, re-use, re-purposing mentality, honed over several decades working with the material, that has shaped our thinking around issues surrounding the circular economy. If you are not familiar with the circular economy? The aims are effectively to 'design-in' recyclability and / or re-purposing products at the end of their life-cycle to help decarbonize the modern world. Over the coming weeks we will be elucidating details of our endeavours repurposing discarded wood for a our forthcoming range of circular and semi-circular consumables. Thanks for your time.

Top Drawer, Olympia London.