Griffins Grotto Gift shop in Guernsey may need to relocate after the planning department decided that there should not be a shop there due to loss of good quality industrial accommodation, (even though it has previously been a bakery,a Guernsey knitwear and another previous gift shop since the 70s). As you can imagine it came as quite a shock to us but the fact of the matter is that Griffins Grotto will be forced to close if the decision is upheld and some people will be made redundant others will lose there lively hoods. The strawberry farm's sudden closure, (where we were previously situated) of it's complex hit us hard financially. We were left with little choice but to relocate our stock to a very small shop in Victoria road then had to make a decision on whether to close at a loss or whether to inject what we had left in savings into the former site of Le Tricoteur /Gift shack which had become available. We decided on the latter and commenced re-launching Griffins Grotto. Since taking on the premises 18 months ago we have slowly started to recover losses and regain a regular customer base. We have always had a good relationship with the local public and hotels in the area, many visitors and local customers comment on how glad they are to see us back. Tourists also comment on how nice it was to have somewhere to come as there is not much in that area for them (we even have customers that fly over every year to do their Christmas shopping at Griffins Grotto). If it rang true that it is good quality industrial accommodation why do other units there remain empty? Also we don’t think anybody living in the area would like any form of industry right on their doorstep for obvious reasons. Griffins Grotto along with the landlord never perceived that there would be a problem as if we had both parties would have taken steps to resolve any issues. We now hope that both parties can work alongside the planning department to resolve any issues and save Griffins grotto from certain closure. For the time being Griffins grotto is still trading and still intends to launch its new internet website after strong demand by its offshore customers. Griffins Grotto is a small independent shop owned & run by a local family selling an array of imported products & local handmade crafts.