Every service YGF Southampton Limited offers is delivered from the Southampton counter at 180 High Street, Southampton - SO14 2BY, United Kingdom GB. Nothing is handed off to a call centre or a remote team. The person who walks the pavement with you in the morning is the person who writes the survey note in the afternoon. This page sets out each service in full, so you can see exactly what the work contains before you book it.
For a dated appointment at the counter, request a time through the contact page →
Booked work is pinned to the rail
Service slate
Letting desk and ledgers
Survey rounds by hand
Front checks with photos
Counter services
Service overview
The services are listed in the order they usually arrive for a client. A trader opening a first shop tends to begin with the letting desk and the footfall rounds, then move to window planning and the store front check before opening day. A landlord with several units tends to work the other way, starting with front checks and renewals and using the letting desk to place new tenants. You can book a single service or the whole run.
The letting desk is the heart of the counter. When a unit comes to us, the first task is to replace the agent language with measurements. We record the frontage in metres, the depth of the sales floor, the ceiling height, the position of the till area and the total number of power sockets. We check the water supply, the back access, the refuse arrangements and the loading restriction on the street outside. Very little of this appears in a standard letting advertisement, and all of it matters on the first trading day.
With those facts on the desk we hold a conversation with the landlord about rent, term length and what work the landlord will carry out before handover. We then meet the prospective tenant and go through the same facts in the same order, so that both sides are working from one description of the unit. Offers are written on the letting sheet, signed at the counter, and copied into the ledger. If a figure does not stack up for the tenant, we say so in the room rather than letting it surface during the reference process.
A letting desk does not simply place a tenant and disappear. We stay in contact through the fit out period, help resolve the small disagreements that always arise over repairs, and note the handover condition in photographs. When the lease comes up for renewal the file is already complete, which saves everyone time and argument later.
A window display plan begins with an observation walk. We approach the shop from both directions at several times of day and note where the eye lands first, where reflections sit in the glass, and how the light changes from morning to late afternoon. From those notes we produce a layout that places the main display at the height of a passing glance, keeps the entrance to the shop visible, and avoids blocking the natural light that makes the interior feel open.
The plan sets out background treatment, prop heights, lighting positions and the shelf or plinth arrangement, all drawn to the actual dimensions of the glass. We also recommend a refresh cycle: which elements stay fixed and which should change each fortnight to keep regular passers by interested. A display that never changes becomes part of the street and stops being read, which is the most common failure we see.
Where a landlord has rules about window vinyl, lettering or external lighting, those rules are written into the plan from the start. It is far cheaper to design within the permission than to remove a display the week after it goes up.
The survey round is our most careful service, because it is the one most often faked elsewhere. Counters stand on the pavement with a clicker and a printed tally sheet, in set positions, for set periods, on set days. Each count records the direction of travel, whether the person paused, whether they looked into the window, and the weather at the time. All of that is written by hand and photographed at the end of each round, so the record cannot drift from the pavement.
A standard survey covers three weekdays and one Saturday, with morning, lunchtime and late afternoon counts. The report presents the totals in plain headings and includes the raw tally sheets. We do not apply an uplift or a correction factor; the number on the page is the number that walked past. Where a client needs comparison between two units, we count both on the same days at the same hours so the comparison is fair.
The report closes with a short interpretation. A high count on a street where nobody pauses is very different from a lower count where most people stop, and the interpretation explains which situation the figures describe. Landlords use the report to price a unit honestly; traders use it to decide whether the rent can be earned.
Before a renewal meeting we read the whole lease, not just the rent clause. We note the break dates, the repairing obligations, the insurance position, the permitted use and any restrictions on signage or alterations. Those details decide what can reasonably be asked for, and they are often the reason a renewal meeting succeeds or fails.
The meeting itself is held at the counter with both sides present and the papers open on the desk. We talk through each point in turn, record what is agreed and what remains open, and set the date by which the open points must be resolved. Notes are written in plain language and circulated within two working days. Nothing is left in a private conversation between two people at the end of the room.
Where a renewal leads to a new lease document, we explain each section in the same plain terms before it is signed, and we point out the clauses that carry a continuing cost. This is not legal advice, and we say so clearly, but it does mean that nobody signs a renewal without understanding what it commits them to.
Pop-up trading has changed the high street for the better, and it needs careful booking to work. We keep a list of units and forecourt spaces whose landlords accept short runs, together with the practical conditions attached to each. Some spaces have power, some do not. Some allow a small A board on the pavement, others forbid it. Some require a return to bare shell, others leave the shelving in place.
Bookings are made in blocks that match the season rather than the standard quarter. A maker testing a Christmas range needs November and early December; a plant seller needs the spring. We negotiate the block, confirm access and hand back times in writing, and set out the signage limits before anything is printed. The booking sheet is copied into the ledger so the terms can be checked at any point during the run.
At the end of a pop-up we carry out a short hand back walk with the trader and the landlord, photographing the unit and noting any remedial work. That final note protects the deposit and makes it far easier to book the same space again next season.
A store front check is a structured inspection of everything between the pavement and the shop floor. We begin at the fascia and work down: the condition of the signage and its fixings, the paint or cladding, the glazing and its seals, the door and closer, the step and threshold, and the condition of any shutters. Each element is given a simple condition note and a photograph taken from the same angle every time, so that future checks can be compared directly.
The report is written in short lines rather than long paragraphs. The point is to give a landlord or a trader a list they can act on: what needs immediate attention, what should be planned within the year, and what is simply normal wear to be monitored. We flag anything that could become a safety issue at once, by telephone, rather than waiting for the written report.
For tenants on a full repairing lease the check is valuable evidence at both the start and the end of a term. A photographed record of the front at handover removes most of the argument about what was already worn when the tenancy began.
YGF Southampton Limited opens its letting week window and takes service bookings at the counter throughout the week, with survey rounds scheduled at least ten days ahead. Reserve a slot →
Process overview
The process is the same whichever service you book. It is short enough to follow on the counter and thorough enough that nothing important is left in memory.
You contact the counter by telephone, email or in person. We ask what the shop is for, when it needs to open and what has already been decided. From those answers we name the services that fit and, just as usefully, the ones that do not. A written scope follows the same day.
The survey, the window walk or the front check takes place on the street. We attend in person, record what we see and photograph it from fixed positions. This is the part of the work that cannot be done from a desk, and it is where the real evidence comes from.
Findings are laid out at the counter and read through together. You can question any figure, ask for a second count or change the scope at this point. Nothing goes into a formal report until it has been understood in the room.
The finished note is issued to you and copied into the ledger with the date, the scope and the photographs. The ledger entry is what lets us pick up the same unit a year later without starting from nothing.
Booking
If you are weighing up a unit, planning a window, or wondering whether a renewal figure is fair, the fastest way to a clear answer is a counterside conversation. We will look at the papers you bring, tell you which service answers your question, and give you a price before any work begins.
Call +17089811848, write to enquiries@ygfsouthampton.mom, or use the form on the contact page. The counter is at 180 High Street, Southampton - SO14 2BY, United Kingdom GB, and the door is open during business hours.