Have you ever lived above a shop?

Murphybear

We lived above a pharmacy in a Devon village. It had 4 bedrooms, a garage, 100ft garden and views over the Exe estuary. But unusual I expect. Very convenient for collecting prescriptions though :rotfl:

Owain_Moneysaver

Betting shops are now sui generis (require their own consent) but they used to be the same class as banks. A nice quiet bank gets replaced with a betting shop which has racing commentary from morning to evening reverberating through the ceiling void.

Still, if you're out at work you won't notice it, and it's probably quieter in the evenings than a downstairs neighbour.

A problem is unoccupied shops (and there are a lot more of them now...) can be a target for squatters or arson or other illegal purposes.

Dizzy_Ditzy

I lived above a hairdressers shop for a couple of years. Never, ever again will I ever live above a shop. She whinged if we parked anywhere near the entire rank of shops, complained of we ever had the TV or radio on or had the cheek to run the hoover around while the shop was open and Wednesday's / Saturday's the whole place stank of perm lotion :mad: :mad:

She eventually took over as landlord of the flat and typically the "power" went to her head. She'd let herself in unannounced for inspections, tried demanding that we rearranged the cupboard arrangements and practically combusted on the spot that we got a standalone gas heater, along with two CO2 alarms and additional smoke alarms because it was winter, in a flat roofed single glazed flat without central heating. We moved out soon after that

Sorry, I digressed. My point is, if you have a choice, don't move to a flat above a shop

shortcrust

Not above, but I’ve lived next door to a hairdressers shop. Honestly the best neighbours I’ve ever had.

BlackBird75

Dizzy_Ditzy wrote: »

I lived above a hairdressers shop for a couple of years. Never, ever again will I ever live above a shop. She whinged if we parked anywhere near the entire rank of shops, complained of we ever had the TV or radio on or had the cheek to run the hoover around while the shop was open and Wednesday's / Saturday's the whole place stank of perm lotion :mad: :mad:

She eventually took over as landlord of the flat and typically the "power" went to her head. She'd let herself in unannounced for inspections, tried demanding that we rearranged the cupboard arrangements and practically combusted on the spot that we got a standalone gas heater, along with two CO2 alarms and additional smoke alarms because it was winter, in a flat roofed single glazed flat without central heating. We moved out soon after that

Sorry, I digressed. My point is, if you have a choice, don't move to a flat above a shop

I think you mean CO alarms.
And I don't think the fact that someone owns a hairdressers makes them any more likely to act in the illegal manner you described.

BlackBird75

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Betting shops are now sui generis (require their own consent) but they used to be the same class as banks. A nice quiet bank gets replaced with a betting shop which has racing commentary from morning to evening reverberating through the ceiling void.

Still, if you're out at work you won't notice it, and it's probably quieter in the evenings than a downstairs neighbour.

A problem is unoccupied shops (and there are a lot more of them now...) can be a target for squatters or arson or other illegal purposes.

True. Because squatting in commercial premises in England and Wales has not been criminalised.
I used to live above a bookies. One day they had an armed robbery.

Doozergirl

Dizzy_Ditzy wrote: »

I lived above a hairdressers shop for a couple of years. Never, ever again will I ever live above a shop. She whinged if we parked anywhere near the entire rank of shops, complained of we ever had the TV or radio on or had the cheek to run the hoover around while the shop was open and Wednesday's / Saturday's the whole place stank of perm lotion :mad: :mad:

She eventually took over as landlord of the flat and typically the "power" went to her head. She'd let herself in unannounced for inspections, tried demanding that we rearranged the cupboard arrangements and practically combusted on the spot that we got a standalone gas heater, along with two CO2 alarms and additional smoke alarms because it was winter, in a flat roofed single glazed flat without central heating. We moved out soon after that

Sorry, I digressed. My point is, if you have a choice, don't move to a flat above a shop

That's just some neighbours. The chance of that is certainly not limited to flats above shops.

ftbwannabe

When renting, I used to deliberately look for flats like that because it meant I had a central top floor flat with no noise from neighbours at night, & often none at weekends either. I've rented 3 flats like that & loved it. Plus, the staff would usually say hi every day, send me xmas cards & accept my parcels if they were delivered when I was out :-)
I hadn't thought about what it would have been like if the premises changed business until this thread, hmm...

davidmcn

cherryblossomzel wrote: »

I was 99% sure I didn't want to do it, but was interested to see if there was some amazing benefit that I hadn't thought of.

The only real benefit is it ought to be cheaper.

deadendwaterfall

I know someone who works at a branch of Mccoll's and they live in a flat above the shop and get very cheap rent as the landlord is the manager for that store!