A Sheffield businessman whose three-year-old games shop has been forced to close says the state of the city centre is getting “worse and worse”.

Owner Samir Jaouane made the decision to close The Vault on Norfolk Row, next to Fargate, after seeing a decline in sales.

He noted that even during the run up to Christmas it was not busy enough to earn the shop the money it needed to sustain itself.

Mr Jaouane said: “Fargate used to be really busy when we first opened a couple years ago and it used to be really busy and if you go and look around now there’s a lot of empty units and it just seems to be getting worse and worse.

“There’s not as many people on the high street as there used to be, even two years ago we opened straight after the last lockdown after Covid and it was really busy.“

Fargate has many unoccupied units, but a city council regeneration project is in progress, with the final cost of the project drafted initially in November 2021 being £8.82m. The Star reported in November last year that the projected costs of the project have increased to £33.6m.

Mr Jaouane said: “Everything’s increasing as well. Our overheads have gone up massively. Our business rates bills increased to £500 a month which is just ridiculous.”

The Office for National Statistics reports that four in 10 trading businesses have experienced a rise in price of goods and services, with increased prices said to be due to energy, raw materials and labour costs.

Tim Nye, founder of Marmadukes, which has a coffee shop also on Norfolk Row, said: “We are actually really busy, probably because we’re daytime, but that doesn’t mean to say making a profit right now isn’t very difficult.”

The independent chain opened its first store on Norfolk Row in 2012. It now also has premises on Cambridge Street and Ecclesall Road.

Mr Jaouane said: “I think Sheffield City Council could do more. I’ve wrote and I’ve wrote to them multiple times just asking for any sort of help for any kind, if we could be given a break with this business right, you know just something to help us get through and they didn’t even bother to respond.“

“We were just an independent shop that was set up and there were no sort of incentives, no help or anything, not even any response from the council … no advice or anything like that, they would just ignore us basically.”

One of the council’s projects which incentivised local independent businesses was a container park in Fargate which opened in October 2022, costing over £500,000. It was used for only three months, meaning eight potential shops never opened or closed.

Mr Jaouane also said the Sheffield Clean Air Zone, which charges commercial vehicles to enter the city centre, had impacted his business as well.

He said: “I’ve been charged for delivering stock and stuff before. I’ve had a £75 charge just for having some stock delivered once by van, so it’s just a nightmare.”

Sheffield Council has been contacted for a comment.