The high street

[emmie]

on this morning news is a piece about Mary Portas who has been telling the government how to revitalise the high street. I wonder if anyone in government actually cares.
Chains like Tesco have come in and dominated the food markets, losing many of the little shops that made up the high street once, i can't see how this is supposed to work.

[emmie]

perhaps no one goes there now, shame really as i reckon they are the lifeblood of communities.

[ummmm]

It appears they do.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17554053

[emmie]

why have they and local councils let many go to rot then, if they need regenerating it's because of greed, after all how many times do you hear of people who lament the loss of their high street, yet happily shop in the mega out of town shopping malls. There is a saying use it or lose it, and couldn't be truer. So many local high streets look the same, virtually interchangeable.

[boxtops]

Certainly we care here in Dover, the Town Team has already been sent up and the first-stage bid is due to be submitted to Mary Portas by the closing date, tomorrow.

[emmie]

boxy, that's good, i wish some on planning, local government had seen this a long time ago.

[ummmm]

There are massive plans to rejuvenate our town centre.

[emmie]

fine, however how many decent businesses went to the wall. Our local shops are a waste of time, no butcher, greengrocer, nor indeed anything of actual value.

[B00]

The thing with most high streets nowadays is that if you go to one, you've pretty much been to them all. They all seem populated with exactly the same kind of shops, making them very boring. It's very rare to see a specialty shop of any kind on one isn't it?

[boxtops]

The problem is that the Portas project only has £1M and 12 towns are going to benefit, so it's not a lot of money per town - and as they said at our Town meeting the other night, quite a bit of things which need doing are at Town or County Council level, not at shop level Nevertheless - if it brings the shop owners together in trying to improve the situation, it can only be a good thing. Dover's a tiny town, nobody ever stops here to and from the docks - it's got amazing history back to the Bronze Age, yet all people see is the A20 to the port.

[emmie]

Boo exactly my point, that has been allowed to happen, and many of the original shops couldn't afford the rents, rates, as the chains can. Boring is right, the same, and it's a terrible pity that the local councils couldn't see what was happening years ago.

[emmie]

10m quid won't go anywhere, that is a drop in the ocean...

[boxtops]

no em - £1m....

[bazwillrun]

"and many of the original shops couldn't afford the rents, rates

in a lot of cases its the greed of the councils who are happier it would seem to have an empty shop earning them nothing rather than reduce the rates to make it more appealing to a potential customer.

Local council = Greed, same as government

[jno]

B00's right. The choice these days is between nationwide chains of big shops (eg Tesco) and nationwide chains of small shops (Specsavers, Starbucks, W H Smith, Body Shop, Paddy Power, er Tesco Metro). You usually have to go to the very end of the high street, or the market place if you've got one, to find actual local traders.

[EDDIE51]

Our town centre has beauty salons/hairdressers , charity shops, funeral directos, solicitors , coffee shops but no greengrocer or butcher, and only 1 very small supermarket. Virtually impossible to park as well, no wonder everyon goes to Tesco on edge of the town.

[hc4361]

Eddie51 has hit the nail on the head. Parking, or lack of it, is a major factor in the demise of the high street.

[ummmm]

This isn't a very big town, as far as I'm aware, and we have 4 multi storey car parks close by.

We have two main roads leading to the town centre. One used to have greengrocers/fish mongers/butchers/banks etc. Now it's charity shops, Asian supermarkets and naff takeaways. The other road is thriving. It's full of pubs/designer clothes shops/nice restaurants/art galleries/solicitors/accountants/hairdressers
/beauty
clinics.

The shops that have closed down in the town centre were crap shops anyway.

[horseshoes]

I remember the days of having to push through the crowds at Christmas in our town; not any more. Last Christmas, it resembled an old wild west movie scene where the tumbleweed rolls down the street; only in this case it was an old newspaper; it's VERY sad. The worst thing that happened in our town was the closure of the big old-fashioned market hall, and I expect this is the same in a lot of places. Then they built a hideous concrete edifice ("shopping centre") in the 1960s which was never at full capacity because of high rates etc - now demolished - and replaced with an eve worse one whai only houses Debenhams (always empty) while all the other shops are on the outside!!! Grrrrr Rant over - I'm off to the hospital to get my head examined - that's not a joke BTW.

[DTCwordfan]

I am about to write to the West Briton about this.

We have had some tozzers wandering around objecting to an opening of a Waitrose for these reasons outlined above, the death of the High Street, the parking etc etc. And Waitrose (and JLewis), one of the best retail employers there is, because of their cooperative values.

Truro High Street isn't too badly affected.....I think it was B00 who had said how she had enjoyed visiting a few months back. However, there are three things that need fronting:

(i) The parking charges - between £3-60 and £4-10 for three hours - single handedly this puts folk off and pulls them to out of town.A couple of shop keepers and I were reckoning £1 would bring them back in and for the delta, say £2000 to go on the business rates. If business for a small shop was to go up say 10%, they are quids in and the council income is still safe.

(ib) over-zealous traffic wardens. We have some nice fair ones and a couple who make Hitler look a pussycat.

(ii) The Chamber of Commerce - nothing from them as to promotion of City businesses and the small shop, nothing that puts Truro on the tourist map as a "shopping destination" - there are some arts events (one coming up called "My City") that the Council put on and that i good - but nothing from the CoC or the shops to get behind it.

(iii) Small food shops - Cornwall has great food but we are nothing like other counties who get behind their produce and actively encourage it. I would strongly advocate a champion to be appointed and bring together a food platform, perhaps council funded for three years passing over to the members involved. Even Waitrose are backing a Food for Cornwall store on their site, a chance for them to see wqho is successful and, no doubt, suck them into their grips.

It is all very well wingeing, which the Cornish do well as they do not manage change very well. It's a case of folk seeing a risk and getting off their fat backsides and doing something about it. "Go down all guns blazing" if it doesn't work but if it does.........I have seen some wonderful projects in the USA for example in developing small artisan centres, one using an old sugar mill, to counter the blandness of their "High Streets" (i,e, shopping malls).

[d9f1c7]

Only the public can revitalise the high st. They prefer to go to the superstores because they are cheap and convenient. Would any of us prefer to pay more to smaller reatailers to save the high st? Nope thought not.