In February 1990, Varsity published a front page with the headline: “WEALTHY CAIUS RAKES IN CASH, College hikes up rents forcing shops to close”. The article notes that Gonville & Caius, among other colleges, was raising rents “by tens of thousands a year” forcing many independent stores to close down. Caius’ bursar at the time admitted that “the best bidders for leases tend to be souvenir shops rather than old businesses,” to which one business owner replied: “We will become a city of galleries and trinket sellers as a result. Old Cambridge has definitely gone for good.”

Fast-forward 30 years, (with many new galleries and trinket shops later) and another of Caius’ independent tenants has shut up shop for the last time. Wilfreds, the iconic sweet shop on King’s Parade, closed down at the start of September after ten years on the street. The traditional sweet shop with its dark green and gold exterior – akin to shop fronts on Diagon Alley – sold hundreds of different types of sweets including pear drops, humbugs, flying saucers, Murray mints and cherry pips. The shop was popular with locals and tourists alike, eager to indulge in traditional treats in a quintessentially historic city.

“Wilfreds, the iconic sweet shop on King’s Parade, closed down at the start of September after ten years on the street”

The news of the store’s closing upset many, but perhaps no more than the shop’s owner, Nigel Fisher. Fisher has been in retail all his life and used to own a chain of 250 fashion stores. For him, the sweet shop was a retirement project and he loved it: “When I took the shop ten years ago I knew I was overpaying, but I wanted the shop,” he said. To open a store in central Cambridge was a dream come true for him: “I always said my shop on King’s Parade, bang opposite King’s, had probably the finest retail view in the country. It was just superb.”

Owning the sweet shop wasn’t all about the money for Fisher, it was a chance for him to run something he was proud of and could enjoy. “It was fun,” Fisher recalled, “We always used to have The Beatles music playing and all the locals used to come in and all the tourists.”

The store was named after his grandson Wilfred who was born with Crouzon syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which causes the skull plates to fuse abnormally. The shop, which raised money for Great Ormond Street Hospital where Wilfred was being treated, brought Fisher’s grandson immense joy: “He used to walk around Great Ormond Street Hospital with a sticker saying ‘Wilfreds’, saying that’s his sweetshop named after him, and it was very, very sentimental.”

Despite its popularity, Wilfreds had to shut its doors after their lease expired with Caius, their landlord. Fisher was very keen to continue trading on King’s Parade, and even told me he offered to pay above market rates to keep his store. But Fisher said his lawyer forgot to extend Wilfreds’ legal coverage period during negotiations, giving Caius the right to refuse a renewal of the lease. When Fisher discovered that Caius wasn’t interested in renewing, he was shocked; negotiations at the time appeared to be going smoothly and Fisher had never owed any rent in the ten years he’d been there. When he enquired into why, Fisher was given little explanation beyond the fact it was for “reasons associated with the strategic management of [Caius’] portfolio of properties,” as explained by the outgoing bursar. Fisher sent impassioned pleas to both the bursar and the Master of the College to reopen negotiations and said he “almost begged them to reconsider” but his attempts were unsuccessful.

“Fisher sent impassioned pleas to both the bursar and the Master of the college to reopen negotiations and said he ‘almost begged them to reconsider’”

Wilfreds is the only store on King’s Parade where Caius is the landlord, but the College owns a significant number of retail units across central Cambridge, including all those on Rose Crescent, as well as many on Trinity Street and Green Street. The closure of Wilfreds has left Fisher and his family dejected and upset: suddenly losing the best retail view in the country and a place that housed so many happy memories is a tough pill to swallow. Wilfreds still operates online and has a store in Stratford-upon-Avon, but the Cambridge shop was a large part of their business.

The loss of another independent business in the city-centre continues Cambridge’s trend of losing its unique retail identity to a bland medley of fast-food chains and Harry Potter souvenir stores. One Cambridge alumnus who studied here in the 90s told me about the joy he used to have shopping at independent stores on King’s Parade and Fitzwilliam Street, many of which have now closed. Even the fast-food in Cambridge during the 90s seemed to match the traditional, academic aesthetic with McDonald’s having large pillars inside it that gave it an “ancient Rome theme”.

Today, a significantly more modern McDonald’s is rivalled by KFC, Taco Bell, Subway, Popeyes and Wendy’s, all within a ten minute walk of each other. And that’s nothing when compared to the number of popular coffee chains that operate within the city; Café Nero has three stores in central Cambridge alone.

This trend isn’t unique to Cambridge: an estimated 7,800 independent stores closed down across the UK in 2023 and business insolvencies rose by more than 52% from 2021 to 2023. There are many factors behind this, including higher interest rates and slowing consumer spending, but relations between landlords and retail tenants have always been notoriously fraught; landlords try to maximise the economic value of their properties while tenants want to keep their costs low.

Fortunately, Cambridge is still populated by a large number of independent stores that breathe life into the city. Despite the large number of American fast-food restaurants, students can still go to Cambridge’s Gardies (although even this store was nearly closed by Caius, if it wasn’t for significant student backlash), and for all the chain coffee shops, there are still plenty of local cafes.

It is these local stores that help mark our time at Cambridge as unique and memorable. You likely won’t remember the trips to Sainsbury’s or Costa when you reflect back on your university days in 30 years time, but you will remember those quirky independent businesses with smiling staff and intriguing interior decoration. The people that run these stores give back to the Cambridge community and help sustain an image of the city that entices millions from across the globe to visit. Independent stores also play a vital role in the local community, giving people “a way of being in touch with what’s going on with the people around them and a way of communicating,” as Fisher notes.

While Wilfreds’ time on King’s Parade has come to a bitter end, with enough support there is still hope for other local businesses to see sweet success.

A Gonville & Caius College spokesperson told Varsity: ”Mr Fisher, the tenant trading as Wilfreds, had a statutory right to a new lease but did not exercise it. We hope Wilfreds finds alternative premises.”