THE owner of a beloved cycle shop that has served the community for three decades says he’s been “thrown out onto the street” after turning up for work to find his store had been repossessed. 


Winklebury Cycles owner Gary Langron was left devastated on Thursday when he arrived to find he was blocked from entering his own shop by his landlord Vivid.


“They refused me entry or access to my stock, caused damage to my goods and effectively threw me out onto the street,” Gary told The Gazette.


“I have been a tenant for 30 years in a building which has constantly failed, I have never missed a rent payment, or caused the landlord any issue whatsoever. My family have been devastated [by this], he said.”


Vivid, one of Basingstoke’s largest landlords, managing 30,000 homes in the south east, said it took control of the building due to “serious breaches of the lease which included the illegal removal and disposal of asbestos”.


Gary rubbished these claims and said: “I feel it’s just a way of getting rid of a tenant ready for their new development.”
The housing developer has drafted proposals to “regenerate” Winklebury.

You can read the full story in this week’s edition of The Gazette. Also in this week's paper:

  • An investigation has been launched following protests about how The Vyne School has tackled racism, as it emerged a headteacher and two teachers repeated a racial slur in front of students. 
  • An Anglo-Saxon girl’s skull found in Oakridge in the 1960s is the first known evidence of punishment for female adultery, scientists say. 
  • Confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported by Everest Community Academy in Popley, and Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke.
  • Gazette reporter Emily Roberts reports on some of the error messages she has received from the Covid-19 test and trace app.
  • Controversial plans to treble the size of a housing development on the edge of Oakley have been rejected by the council's development control committee. 
  • A village pub will be turned into a home after planning permission was approved, despite a petition signed by over 600 people to save it from development.
  • Around half of patients at Basingstoke hospital are not being referred for treatment within an 18-week target, figures have revealed.
  • An asthmatic shopper was left “very uncomfortable and distressed” after a Tesco worker called her out for wearing a sunflower lanyard - used to indicate exemption from mask-wearing.
  • PLUS: All the latest from court.
  • Two pages of your letters to the editor.
  • Pictures: 'First Class' - adorable school starters  
  • Two pages of news from our communities.
  • An eight-page puzzle special.
  • Two pages of business news.
  • Three pages of entertainment news.
  • Four pages of sports news. And much more!

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