"'End of an era' as Nuneaton sports shop closes for good after 45 years"

[dutchman]

The business operated from Nuneaton town centre until 2019



"It is what it is" became the mantra for a much-loved Nuneaton business that is reluctantly closing for good after 45 years of serving customers in the town.

Cannon Sports, formerly Cannon and Lewis, operated from the town centre in Stratford Street and Queens Road locations between 1976 and 2019, selling sports clothing and equipment to generations of Nuneatonians.

Citing a 'ridiculous' drop in footfall, three years ago they retreated to premises off Attleborough Road. But now, the difficult decision has been made to cease trading altogether.

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"There was some real optimism when we moved out of the town centre that we could go again," said Matt Lamb, who owns the business with his dad Steve. "We probably stayed in the town centre a year or two too long, but we wanted to give it everything we had.

"When we moved out of Queens Road to the new site we were buzzing. There was so much optimism we could make it work.

"We'd created a new 'one-stop shop' website for sports clubs to get all of their items and we were confident it would take off. Then, three weeks later, the global pandemic hit and just killed us."

For a company that relied heavily on its provision of team garments to clubs across Nuneaton and the surrounding towns, the freezing of grassroots and junior sport for the best part of 18 months provided a fatal blow for the business.

“It really stumped us, The saying that kept coming up in the office was ‘it is what it is’,” added Matt. “We started losing accounts with the likes of Nike and Adidas, who themselves were streamlining because of Covid. We had a few brands but nothing you could really build the business around.”

He concluded: “It's an end of an era for us. We’d like to thank all of the individuals and clubs who’ve supported us through the years. Without them we wouldn’t have had all the good times and been so immersed in the rich and diverse sporting community that Nuneaton has.”