The owner of a Bradford gift shop that showcases local businesses has made the difficult decision to close its doors following the lack of high street footfall.

The Old Wooden Box on Duke Street, Bradford, opened in October 2020 and became one of the places across the district to support local independent businesses.

Currently, the shop provides a home for 15 of these businesses and when the shop officially closes on July 23, these businesses will no longer have a home.

Items including jewellery, handmade ornaments, and candles, made by independent traders, are stocked in the shop.

Owner Laura Wigglesworth, who uses the pronoun they/them, said: “We are so grateful, and we have met some amazing people.

“This shop has been an openly queer space and we’ve met some fantastic people and shared huge life moments with people from the LGBTQ+ community.

“We’ve met people during their transition journey and the people have been the most awesome part of this experience and I’m going to miss it the most.”

In a Facebook post Laura said: “Unfortunately, as I'm sure you all know, the high street is a really tough place to make a business work right now. Especially if you are a small independent with no financial support.

“Many of our awesome sellers in the shop are running sales which will begin tomorrow, so please do call in and see us. Maybe grab yourself a little something?

“This may not be forever; who knows how things pan out - that's half the fun (stress?) of working for yourself! So we may be back in the future, who can say?

“Bradford, you're hard work but I truly love you to bits; it's been a blast!”

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