Wick eyesore property up for auction next week but where’s the ‘sitting tenant’?
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An eyesore former shop in Wick up for auction next week claims to have a sitting tenant who left the town under a cloud after several failed business ventures.
The commercial property at 53 High Street is being sold by Future Property Auctions with the opening bid price of £19,000 and claims to have Teddy’s Dessert Bars Ltd as the sitting tenant – one of many companies created by Theodora Kennedy Hunt (Teddy Hunt) who now trades under the name Theodora Tennessee Hawthorne.
Teddy’s Dessert Bars Ltd, which intended to run an unlicensed cafe at the premises, was dissolved on January 2 this year and was registered at Bankhead Cottage in Wick which was recently demolished to make way for turbine convoys.
The former Semichem shop was described as a “damn disgrace” and eyesore for locals and tourists, at a recent meeting of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council (RBWCC).
The shop has had its fittings ripped out and is filled with a jumble of assorted furniture and bric-a-brac allegedly placed there by Ms Hunt. At a meeting at the start of May, RBWCC members said that rodents had been sighted through the window and there are open jars of food lying about.
The community councillors were desperate to find a solution and sought to contact the building’s owner as well as Highland Council’s environmental health team to advise on the growing concerns.
Teddy Hunt appeared in a John O'Groat Journal article in November 2022 when she was lauded as a major investor and business entrepreneur who intended to “breathe life into the town” by opening up shops, cafes and restaurants in the centre of Wick.
However, her visions for Wick’s high street transformation turned out to be empty promises when a beauty clinic was open for a single day and a bar/restaurant lasted a few weeks before closing its doors.
The newspaper informed the auction house on Thursday (May 23) that the company named on the website as the occupier, holding a “rolling tenancy” at 53 High Street, was dissolved. Despite that, the erroneous details remain on the page.
Future Property Auctions states that the former shop has 2842sq ft of space on the ground floor and first floor and sits in a “prime location”. It further states: “Rates Free. Sold with existing tenant paying £6,600 rising to £7,200 on the 1st Feb 2024 then £7,800 in 2025. Tenante [sic] = Teddys Dessert Bars Ltd.”
It uses Ladbrokes betting shop and M&Co as examples of existing businesses despite the fact that the latter closed over a year ago.
The website omits images of the eyesore building as it looks now and instead opts for pictures, some years out of date, with it as a functioning shop. A slideshow on the website shows the neat and colourful interior of the former Semichem shop rather than the disarrayed piles of old furniture and other junk that currently sits within.
A staff member at Future Property Auctions noted the incorrect details on the website and said it “would be looked into”.
The auction takes place on May 30 as “Tenanted Commercial LOT 90” with online bidding starting at 10am and finishing at 3pm.
