The strange saga of HMV’s Oxford Street closure - Kevin Buckle

The HMV closure is particularly strange, as unlike the previous incarnations that did so badly they had to be bought out of administration, it would appear that under the Canadian serial entrepreneur Doug Putman they are doing as well as he might have hoped for, as he took over the business just before vinyl had its revival.

The HMV store on Oxford Street in London

I have to be honest, though, and say the reasons for closing just three years after having reopened there do seem odd.

One of the reasons given was that they were facing a bill for “substantial” renovation works at the store, which would make the shop “commercially unsustainable”.

Now HMV would have without doubt have had a building survey done before they moved back in, so it seems odd that so soon afterwards they are being faced with such a large bill, which must mean they are on a full repairing lease.

The main reason given, though, is that the landlord wants to double the rent. Now when it comes to making excuses for leaving, this is the oldest trick in the book.

A landlord never randomly doubles the rent. What happens on all these occasions is the tenant will have negotiated a reduced rent for a certain time with an agreement that at some point the full rent will be paid.

Paying only half the rent for the first three years is a common occurrence on the high street and at the time HMV moved back into Oxford Street it was still struggling with dodgy American Candy shops, so the landlords could easily have taken the view that the initial hit was worth it to get a good tenant in the long term.

What does surprise me is that HMV must have been able to negotiate a break in their agreement after three years, as normally the landlord will want a firm commitment that the tenant will remain after the low rent has finished.

On every previous occasion I have heard a tenant complain the landlord has doubled the rent, what actually happened is the landlord asked that the full rent be paid as per the lease agreement, which sure enough is double the rent previously being paid, but only because the tenant was given such a good deal to start with.

Given how hard HMV negotiated with all the landlords and suppliers when Doug Putman took over, it would be unthinkable that they didn’t initially get a good deal for returning to the Oxford Street shop.

Closer to home the SAY (Scottish Album of the Year) award shortlist was announced and most of the big names didn’t make the cut after being on the longlist.

Boards of Canada is by far the biggest artist left in the running, with Admiral Fallow, Biffy Clyro, Emma Pollock and The Twilight Sad all falling at the final fence. If I’m honest I haven’t even heard of six of the ten remaining.

Sadly the award has never really been about which album is best and far more about ticking boxes showing how diverse music is in Scotland, which is a great shame.