Stephen Salloway
The owner of one of Derby’s leading commercial property agents is celebrating the firm’s three decades in business by reflecting on the changes he has seen across the city in the last 30 years.
When Stephen Salloway launched his own property consultancy, traffic had only just stopped driving down St Peter’s Street, the Derbyshire Building Society was situated on the corner of the Market Place and pubs and shops were still trading in Duckworth Square.
Opposite the Council House was the infamous ‘hole in the ground’ which lay abandoned for almost a decade after plans for a hotel fell through. Football matches were still played at the Baseball Ground, nights out were enjoyed at the Pink Coconut, in Colyear Street, and visitors stayed at the nearby Pennine Hotel.
Thirty years later and the majority of these landmarks are consigned to history, but Salloway Property Consultants is still standing strong and has also been in the unique position of helping to shape the city as it evolves.
Today the company, which specialises in the sale, letting and management of commercial and industrial property, together with providing advice on development land, is based in new offices on Pride Park – an area of the city which did not exist when the firm first launched.
Stephen said: “The business was established in an economic climate that was not dissimilar to today’s. The country was recovering from recession with falling inflation from 11% down to 2% and interest rates down from 14% to 5%.
“But 30 years ago Derby was a very different place and everything was city centre based. If you wanted to eat out, have your hair cut or go shopping you came into the centre, so the streets were busy with cars and people.
“The creation of Pride Park was an unwitting Achilles heel for the city really – it wasn’t intended to be a home for offices in the way it has become. Equally, positioning the prime shopping centre at one end of the city has created a problem for the rest of the streets.
“Few people will remember the other scheme on the table at the time, which I believe was in a better location and would certainly have helped with footfall.
“There was talk of redeveloping Duckworth Square and Green Lane, linking through to St Peters Street and Victoria Street. But it would have involved complex land assembly issues and possibly a CPO which would have taken a very long time. I do wonder how the city centre would look now if this plan had gone ahead instead of the Westfield development.”
Despite the enormous changes over the last three decades, which also includes the demise of the Assembly Rooms, Stephen thinks Derby’s rebirth is finally underway.
He believes the £45.8m entertainment and conference centre in Becketwell will act as a major catalyst to open the city as a repurposed leisure destination, while plans to reopen the Guildhall will bolster the improved cultural offering.
Stephen added: “We need to change the reason for visiting the city from just wanting to buy something – be that goods or services – to having an experience. Happily this has already begun with the new entertainment venues, but so much more needs to be done.
“The other way is to put houses in and some of the new major apartment blocks are doing just that. But this has to keep happening, we can’t just put our toe in the water – we have to go for it wholeheartedly.
“There needs to be some water in the city, with more greenery, more trees and pleasant walks. We need to be keener to stop the anti-social behaviour; people need to feel safe.
“I was once talking to a London-based developer about Derby and the fact it didn’t make much of its river. He suggested we should consider moving or diverting the river! It would be a huge feat of engineering and the cost would doubtless be prohibitive, but this out-of-the-box thinking is needed to bring about the sorts of changes I’d like to see.
“Victora Street has so much potential because it’s a very wide street. It would make perfect sense to open up Markeaton brook that flows under it, making it a vibrant meeting place lined with cafes and bars.”
As Salloway enters its fourth decade in business it is only natural for Stephen to speculate on where the company, and the city itself, will be in another 30 years.
The firm, which also has an office in Burton, has played a significant role in the property sectors across Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire and Stephen hopes this will remain the case for years to come and beyond his own retirement.
He added: “In another 30 years’ time I hope Salloway will still exist – there will always be a built environment and while you have that you will always need surveyors. We’ve established a strong foothold in the real estate business and I hope my colleagues here will take the business forward.
“I think the future will be about sustainability and implementing self-sufficiency wherever possible, utilising renewable energy sources. A building is just an envelope for the process that goes on within it, and whilst its aesthetic appearance will always be important, increasingly it will be minimising the environmental impact that takes precedence. Businesses will always have reasons to move and properties will always be changing hands.
“I am very proud of the work we have done in Derby and, like many other residents and business owners, I’m hopeful that the city’s resurgence will gather momentum and continue apace.”
