Do you have your name loud and proud over your store? And what happens when you sell it? Don’t assume the new owners will change the name – possibly because, rather than in spite of, it having been someone else’s name that has been known and liked in the district for yonks. It’s kind of like ‘passing off’. (We’re still here!)

A few ex-retailers still keep in touch and it was on the above subject that Janet contacted me. That’s not her real name, because she is very shy about appearing in print. She and her husband John (not his real name either) left their store in North West England 12 years ago. He sadly died three years later.

Janet still lives in the area and is irked to see ‘Janet and John’s store’ still above the business. She rang me to ask what could be done. She had checked with the estate agent to see what had been agreed, but they keep their records for only seven years.

I checked with my property specialist, Barry Frost, who runs Commercial Plus (Chester), and he said her best bet would be to approach the current owners (it has changed hands several times). “They would be under no legal obligation to change it. It should have been made a condition of the sale.”

He adds that the name of the business itself is probably not the one above the store – although if the owners did bank under ‘Janet & John’s’ it would be even harder to get them to change it.

It probably hasn’t escaped your notice: a refurb is well overdue.