Death of the High Street

Kent_Mackem said:
Plenty of local shops and a market in Ely. They currently have enough customers who are prepared to get off their arsed to support the shops, but I’d admit their days are limited. We are gradually turning into an incredibly lazy species.
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Ely may be a city but its effectively a market town, I suspect it isnt representative of most high streets.
 


Keawyeds said:
Can you imagine someone popping next door for coffee these days? People barely know their neighbours! Bit sad really
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Lots of good things have ended due I think to changing work patterns . Shift work, weekend work, 7 day working week, Sunday shopping leading to time poverty have all helped to bugger up what many of us thought would be the norm for ever .
 
Some Random Guy said:
I know, imagine having so little going on in your life that you need to knock about with people you happen to live next to. :lol:
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I mean borrow some coffee like the advert! Man that makes me feel old.

I think it's a bit of a shame if people don't know their neighbours. We know ours enough to briefly chat to, but no further than that.
Maybe it's a generation thing or how long you live in one place for.
My folk's estate is like a little community. Lockdown has probably brought them all even closer, albeit socially distanced!

In fact, I'm going to make a thread.
So there.
 
Keawyeds said:
I mean borrow some coffee like the advert! Man that makes me feel old.

I think it's a bit of a shame if people don't know their neighbours. We know ours enough to briefly chat to, but no further than that.
Maybe it's a generation thing or how long you live in one place for.
My folk's estate is like a little community. Lockdown has probably brought them all even closer, albeit socially distanced!

In fact, I'm going to make a thread.
So there.
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Yeah, I think it's fair to say a lot of that is generational. You used to have a street full of families where the mother was a housewife, other housewives became the social circle.

You don't generally see that now, women will have workmates, hobbies, they have money to spend independently. We're more mobile so mates they grew up with that live further away isn't much of a hinderence.

Proximity seems like its less likely to be a driver in making new friends imo. I wonder if you have a street or estate where most people don't work.

I don't think that's happened in a single generation, we've probably slid there over several. Our parents are probably more friendly with neighbours than we are, and grandparents more so than our parents.

On coffee (of flour, or a cup of sugar, I suppose), we have much wider opening times than we used to which will be a factor. Most of us have a 24/7 supermarket close by, and the corner shop or smaller supermarkets will have a wider selection.

I wonder if there's more of a "traditional" community in areas where few people work.
 
Some Random Guy said:
Yeah, I think it's fair to say a lot of that is generational. You used to have a street full of families where the mother was a housewife, other housewives became the social circle.

You don't generally see that now, women will have workmates, hobbies, they have money to spend independently. We're more mobile so mates they grew up with that live further away isn't much of a hinderence.

Proximity seems like its less likely to be a driver in making new friends imo. I wonder if you have a street or estate where most people don't work.

I don't think that's happened in a single generation, we've probably slid there over several. Our parents are probably more friendly with neighbours than we are, and grandparents more so than our parents.

On coffee (of flour, or a cup of sugar, I suppose), we have much wider opening times than we used to which will be a factor. Most of us have a 24/7 supermarket close by, and the corner shop or smaller supermarkets will have a wider selection.

I wonder if there's more of a "traditional" community in areas where few people work.
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Well in terms of my folks, most on their bit of the estate are retired now anyway so that probably adds to the community spirit sort of thing
Geronimo said:
Actually i still pop next door abt twice a week for an alcohic beverage.
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Wish I lived near a mate I'd do that with! Thinking about it, I probably do, but the effort needs to be made.
 
I think personally some High Streets will do alright but it depends on where. Nice quirky towns, with other things to see or do while shopping will do better than ever or alright, your likes of Hexham, Darlington, Morpeth, Whitley Bay, Barnard Castle, Richmond, Yarm etc with nice quality butcher shops and local little independents and also nice restaurants and pubs (not your TGI Friday's shit though). Also think local centres will do alright aswell where there's free parking; Washington Galleries, Blaydon, Cramlington, Peterlee (partly), Jarrow where you can do your supermarket shop and pop to Wilko or Poundland or whatever.

Others which are depressingly grim places, choked with a shopping centre chopping streets up and little to no leisure or local independants are finished though; South Shields, Sunderland, Stockton, Redcar, Byker, North Shields etc unless they change and fast.
 
Northampton town centre where I live is a cess pit, it was once a decent little place but it’s lost M&S , House of Fraser, Debenhams, BHS, as well as a number of pubs & clubs
It’s pretty much a no go zone now
Chavs, Eastern European’s , Homeless people , that’s all that’s there
You have to spend money to make money and these councils don’t have a pot to piss in, people won’t go there plain and simple now
 
FN-2187 said:
Over the last 3 years we have made an effort to shop in the high street rather than online.

Of course that has changed in the last 12 months, but hopefully not long before I go back to the shops rather than online.
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same here.
the penny dropped about 10 years ago for me when i realised most of the things i bought for christmas were off the internet. nowadays i always set a day aside and have a good mooch about. i quite enjoy it tbh.
 
White city Boy said:
Northampton town centre where I live is a cess pit, it was once a decent little place but it’s lost M&S , House of Fraser, Debenhams, BHS, as well as a number of pubs & clubs
It’s pretty much a no go zone now
Chavs, Eastern European’s , Homeless people , that’s all that’s there
You have to spend money to make money and these councils don’t have a pot to piss in, people won’t go there plain and simple now
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My proudest driving moment happened in Northampton. When we lived down MK we used to drive up to Northampton for a change of scenery. Plus I had a Jawa 350 motorbike and the nearest dealer was just outside the centre.
I used to park the car on an estate west of the centre, then just a short walk to the shops. One time I found a gap between 2 cars but it was only about 30cm bigger than the car. I reversed in perfectly and parked it first time. It was back in the 80s but I still remember it well.:)
 
If we take Sunderland as an example, I think the big issue is there is very little in the sense of local independent traders.
And most of the area's they would set up suffer from low footfall and/or are plain shit holes
Jackie Whites could be decent if it was bigger and had a good clean
Blanford Street has a reputation for being a charity street
High Street West is expensive for shops £1250pcm +
And Park lane is too far away for most of the fat trogs to walk to from the bridges
 

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