LHD shop flits

LHD’S clothing and marine supplies shop is to move a couple of hundred yards along the Esplanade to premises that used to house John Leask & Son’s travel agency.

The shop had taken up part of the lower half of the Albert Building, owned by Lerwick Port Authority, for almost quarter of a century. It employs four full time members of staff.

LHD managing director Ritchie Simpson said the move was likely to take place “in the next month or two” after agreeing an arrangement with Leask’s.

There won’t be any radical change to what the LHD shop provides. But Simpson said it was important that the new premises were in a handy location for visiting yachts and fishing boats that provide much of its custom.

The move has been prompted by the LPA’s desire to use the building to expand its own office space, with the harbour authority continuing to thrive thanks largely to a buoyant oil and gas industry.

LPA chief executive Sandra Laurenson said the expansion could “possibly” see some more staff taken on, but was primarily “to improve the utilisation of this building a bit better” and increase the space for meeting rooms and storage.

Leask’s long standing travel agency shut back in 2012, though two members of staff have continued working from the premises. They will now move to the company’s bus depot at Gremista.