The Arch Company markets itself as small business friendly and flexible. That is not how they operate in practice.In 2023, while already operating from one arch, we explored taking on an additional arch a few doors down. During those discussions, we asked whether we could take a few months to assess the risk before committing. We were told by The Arch Company that a direct competitor to us had already made an offer on that unit and that the space would be let to them unless we committed immediately. Months later, we spoke directly to that business and they confirmed they had never made an offer on the space. This suggests we were pressured using information that was not accurate.Operational support has also been extremely poor. We had ongoing issues with neighbouring tenants who were not customer-facing businesses. They repeatedly locked shared gates, preventing our customers and staff from entering or exiting, and regularly parked vehicles directly in front of our entrance. We raised these issues multiple times with our facilities manager. Emails were ignored for long periods. When a meeting was scheduled by The Arch Company’s facilities manager between us and the neighbouring tenant, she did not attend and did not notify us in advance. This happened twice on consecutive days.There appears to be a large facilities team, but communication is ineffective. Emails frequently receive out-of-office responses and issues are rarely followed through to resolution.When we moved into the arch in 2023, we were told the unit had been prepared. This was not the case. There were serious damp issues, and power had not been connected. We repeatedly raised these problems and were told they had been addressed, which was not accurate. These issues significantly disrupted our move-in and ongoing operations.Overall, The Arch Company showed little concern for the practical realities of running a small business. Communication was poor, issues were ignored, and statements made during leasing discussions were unreliable. I would strongly caution other small businesses to be very careful and to consider alternative landlords.
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The Arch Company is the UK's largest provider of properties for small and medium businesses. We have arches, small offices, warehouses and other industrial units to let. We're responsible for 5,200 properties across England and Wales and 23 million sq. ft of lettable space. Two thirds of our properties are in London with others concentrated in metropolitan centres like Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Bristol. The Arch Company is investing £200 million into Project 1000, which will create space for 1,000 businesses by 2030. This will support approximately 5,000 jobs and add to the estimated 25,000 people already employed in arch businesses. The Arch Company exists to make space for businesses to thrive.See more
