Two Huddersfield businesses have made the decision not to relocate after the council plan to demolish their building.
As reported by the BBC, a café and a hair salon in Birkby, Huddersfield were forced to stop operating after an arson attack.
The fire occurred on November 25, 2025, in a florist shop located between the café and hairdressers. Seona Johnson and Erika Wallace were the owners of Dominoes hair salon. They ran their business for over 30 years. Whilst Kelly Hildreth ran Kelly’s Café.
All three women were devasted by the fire. Despite their love for their businesses and community they have chosen to not continue.
Hildreth feels as if she’s “too old to start again now."
Johnson would like to continue with hairdressing at some point. She said, “When I do go back, I'm definitely going to try and slow down a bit."
The Police did investigate the fire and found that it was suspicious, they had made an arrest but ultimately released the suspect after further investigation.
Latest reports from Kirklees council state the building will be demolished.
Radio Sangam has spoken with tenants and they are desparate to start their livlihoods up again. One tennant, stated that he had spent thousands on making the property fit for purpose. He has lost thousands and now would like Kirklees to offer the site to the tennants and leaseholders to buy the site as a first option. It is likely that the council will put the land onto the open market via an option but this, the tennants believe is highly unfair and adds to their losses. Something that was never their fault. Radio Sangam urges the council to be sympathtic towards the leaseholders and support them during this difficult time and ensure that they are offered the first refusal on any future developments / sales and keep the tennants informed and work with them for a solution.
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