Much-loved Swindon ice cream shop to close

Rays Home Made Ice Cream in Devizes Road is to close after 15 years.

The decision was announced in a heartfelt social media post by owner Jessie Dennis.

She blamed the spiralling cost of everything from ingredients to utilities.

The shop has long been a popular integral part of the Old Town food scene, as well as attracting customers from farther afield.

However, the name of Rays Home Made Ice Cream is to continue in what is billed as a mini version of the business at LamoRose Cakes in nearby High Street.

The Facebook post announcing the impending closure said in part: "I want you all to know that it is absolutely nothing to do with how much ice cream we have sold - with the heat wave and the lovely warm summer we have had a great year in sales and sold tens of thousands of ice creams - but it just isn’t enough to cover the costs any more: the prices of everything has sky rocketed so much and so quickly that is just isn’t affordable to have a shop on the high street any more. 

"I know I’m not alone in this, and small businesses all over the country are feeling the same.. I have put my heart and soul in to Rays and I am absolutely devastated that all that hard work has left me with no choice but to make this decision. 

"I hope the government realises and start to support our local shops soon, or we face a derelict high street and I just can’t bare it."

The owner added: "The electricity alone is £10,000. (For a few freezers!???) The business rates this year have been £7,000. With the rent, cost of the ice cream ingredients, rise in staff wages, NI contributions, pensions and everything else, the costs are too high, and we [can't ever] sell an ice cream scoop for enough to cover them, because it just wouldn’t be fair on anyone.

"Being VAT registered this year with 20% of our sales going straight to the tax man has taken us over the edge to 0. There is nothing to claim back so any chance of making a profit is taken away before you even start."