Death of the High Street

Chunk Love Sloth said:
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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Thats pretty much spot on.
The Bridges are far too expensive for small shops, and the footfall is pretty bad (considering the rents) most the week most the year. Even the barrows dotted about are around £500+ a week.
Anything outside The Bridges theres no footfall.
The market is council ran, so the chances of anything getting improved is next to zero. They estimated over half a million to paint it, just the walls and ceiling! About 10 years ago they gave a budget of £120k for some improvements. The staff toilets upstairs were needing refurbing, nothing major, they didn't have to be anything special, they were only for staff, new toilet seats, few new cubicle doors, couple of new basins, and just a good deep clean, few tiles replacing. So we agreed that would be done first. They refurbed them, it took them 6 months, they replaced everything. I went to the next meeting with the council to see if we could get some Xmas decorations and a tree out the budget (the ones they were using were over 30 years old), and was told there was no money left, they had gone over budget and the toilets had cost them £135000 (original estimate was around £25k, which I thought was expensive). I actually said to the bloke, are you f***ing kidding? I could build a 6 bed house for less than that, how the hell has it cost £135k to refurb 2 sets of toilets. Still waiting for an answer that makes sense. I'll be amazed if the market ever gets any decent work done on it.
 
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Still love to try stuff on before buying, stuff like jeans and tshirts. Footwear i can trust to get online but hate getting clothing online to find it dont fit as sizes are different for different places
 
James said:
The high street will never die, it will just evolve as it has done for centuries. Less big box retail, more leisure uses, restaurants, bars. Most peoples high streets are still the centre of their communities.
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Down those changes though its main purpose was to shop for stuff ,everyday needs and stuff your local small shop wouldn't have . It will be there but with way less need for people to visit it . Getting people living in centres will help them change their way to a longer future
Some Random Guy said:
You makes that sound like a bad thing. Ultimately shops are there to serve the consumer, if there are more convenient options available the consumer isn't obliged to put themselves out for the high street. Shopping is a fuck on.
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Savvy sellers have slowly taken the business from the high St. We've happily dud it then complain that the shops close .
Supermarkets did it first
You can buy clothes, magazines, electrical, booze,kitchenware, hardware, gifts , cards, vouchers, drugs, reading glasses ,first aid.
Use a pharmacy and cafe in any decent Asda .Not mentioning grocer, Baker, butcher
All of those were separate shops on the High Street
 
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City centres will always be focal points but there’ll be the big continued change from mostly shopping to mostly hospitality.
 
col said:
Thats pretty much spot on.
The Bridges are far too expensive for small shops, and the footfall is pretty bad (considering the rents) most the week most the year. Even the barrows dotted about are around £500+ a week.
Anything outside The Bridges theres no footfall.
The market is council ran, so the chances of anything getting improved is next to zero. They estimated over half a million to paint it, just the walls and ceiling! About 10 years ago they gave a budget of £120k for some improvements. The staff toilets upstairs were needing refurbing, nothing major, they didn't have to be anything special, they were only for staff, new toilet seats, few new cubicle doors, couple of new basins, and just a good deep clean, few tiles replacing. So we agreed that would be done first. They refurbed them, it took them 6 months, they replaced everything. I went to the next meeting with the council to see if we could get some Xmas decorations and a tree out the budget (the ones they were using were over 30 years old), and was told there was no money left, they had gone over budget and the toilets had cost them £135000 (original estimate was around £25k, which I thought was expensive). I actually said to the bloke, are you f***ing kidding? I could build a 6 bed house for less than that, how the hell has it cost £135k to refurb 2 sets of toilets. Still waiting for an answer that makes sense. I'll be amazed if the market ever gets any decent work done on it.
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Despite the general perception I always thought the footfall was high in The Bridges and the occupancy rate.
Certainly before the start of the pandemic and even after it started I was struggling to see any unoccupied units.
 
Gelan said:
Maybe Covid, or more so the knowledge and warnings it has brought will mean international trade will no longer be desired, and the Hgh Streets will once again flourish, and optimism will no longer be regarded as a dirty word.
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As much as I’d love to see a return to consumers supporting British brands, do you really think they’ll pay the premium when goods from China for example in most cases are a fifth of the price?

Given the current economic climate and inevitable recession, I’d have thought the opposite would happen and we’d rely on international trade more than ever. Just a pity we voted for Brexit before all this happened...
 
col said:
Thats pretty much spot on.
The Bridges are far too expensive for small shops, and the footfall is pretty bad (considering the rents) most the week most the year. Even the barrows dotted about are around £500+ a week.
Anything outside The Bridges theres no footfall.
The market is council ran, so the chances of anything getting improved is next to zero. They estimated over half a million to paint it, just the walls and ceiling! About 10 years ago they gave a budget of £120k for some improvements. The staff toilets upstairs were needing refurbing, nothing major, they didn't have to be anything special, they were only for staff, new toilet seats, few new cubicle doors, couple of new basins, and just a good deep clean, few tiles replacing. So we agreed that would be done first. They refurbed them, it took them 6 months, they replaced everything. I went to the next meeting with the council to see if we could get some Xmas decorations and a tree out the budget (the ones they were using were over 30 years old), and was told there was no money left, they had gone over budget and the toilets had cost them £135000 (original estimate was around £25k, which I thought was expensive). I actually said to the bloke, are you f***ing kidding? I could build a 6 bed house for less than that, how the hell has it cost £135k to refurb 2 sets of toilets. Still waiting for an answer that makes sense. I'll be amazed if the market ever gets any decent work done on it.
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At the meeting did they all have a tan/new watch?
 
Today I’ve got to go to the opticians, and pay in a cheque at the bank. I’ve got two options:

a) go into the town, park at £1.50 an hour (more on the bus), go to the opticians, walk to the bank and queue up
Or b) I can nip into the opticians in Tesco, park outside for nowt, pick something up for tea, and use the bank app on my phone to take a picture of the cheque and pay it in when I get home.

B takes half the time of A, costs less and I get more done. Why would I go into the town? 5 or so years ago I’d have to, but now I don’t.
 
the dark one said:
Not for me it's not. I'll happily support the high street. Fuck amazon.
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i've not bought anything off amazon for ages. only as a total last resort. usually costs £2 / £3 more but i try to go direct to the sellers website for things like electronics and clothing etc.. not always possible but i do try. i think amazon own half the internet though, so they'll be getting money off me from somewhere no doubt. like ebay auctions i sometimes win.

you dont have to physically go to the town centre to support local/british independent companies. i've been getting good ale from loads of little breweries over the last year and its dead easy to go direct to them.

i watched one of these daft youtube videos on this a while back, and there was some clever looking bloke on there explaining how £5 spent in a local butcher, then becomes £5 that the butcher spends on a haircut. the barber then spends that £5 on a pint in his local, whos landlord then then spends the £5 on a local brewery. the brewer spends the £5 getting his brewery painted by a local painter, who then spends the £5 back at the butchers etc.. you get the point.... anyway, he said that first £5 is now worth £35 to the local economy. rather than spending the first £5 in Asda which goes straight to an off-shore tax haven and put on the pile with the other billions of pounds that are hoarded and will never be spent on anything. kind of makes sense to me

i think one of the good things that might come from brexit (staunch remainer here) is that moe people might be more eager look for british products
 
Meathead said:
As much as I’d love to see a return to consumers supporting British brands, do you really think they’ll pay the premium when goods from China for example in most cases are a fifth of the price?

Given the current economic climate and inevitable recession, I’d have thought the opposite would happen and we’d rely on international trade more than ever. Just a pity we voted for Brexit before all this happened...
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I'm a hopeful individual, but I have no idea if this lesson will be heeded. Those that "want" and want now and cheap, will not think in a universal way, or have any regard over what their greed will bring eg: A smaller planet with less resources and more viruses, child labour, more lockdowns that will ultmately kill millions in the third world. In the West we see ourselves as fair whilst consuming at a rate that is both stomach churning and immoral. Covid is the enemy? No...it's us! Covid has rules to balance society and ultimately save it, we have none regarding the bringing about of our own demise.
 
tunstallhill said:
i've not bought anything off amazon for ages. only as a total last resort. usually costs £2 / £3 more but i try to go direct to the sellers website for things like electronics and clothing etc.. not always possible but i do try. i think amazon own half the internet though, so they'll be getting money off me from somewhere no doubt. like ebay auctions i sometimes win.

you dont have to physically go to the town centre to support local/british independent companies. i've been getting good ale from loads of little breweries over the last year and its dead easy to go direct to them.

i watched one of these daft youtube videos on this a while back, and there was some clever looking bloke on there explaining how £5 spent in a local butcher, then becomes £5 that the butcher spends on a haircut. the barber then spends that £5 on a pint in his local, whos landlord then then spends the £5 on a local brewery. the brewer spends the £5 getting his brewery painted by a local painter, who then spends the £5 back at the butchers etc.. you get the point.... anyway, he said that first £5 is now worth £35 to the local economy. rather than spending the first £5 in Asda which goes straight to an off-shore tax haven and put on the pile with the other billions of pounds that are hoarded and will never be spent on anything. kind of makes sense to me

i think one of the good things that might come from brexit (staunch remainer here) is that moe people might be more eager look for british products
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Your £5 exercise is what the Tories missed when they closed 100s of pits . Took the biggest feed at the front of that ripple .
Local shops need to accept their customers are at work if they open hours that were around 50 years ago.
Maybe the covid has put them in touch with the possibility of trading outside the expected norm
 
avacado said:
Sunderland had parkingperx so it’s free to park if you shop in city centre shops.
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What’s this?
the dark one said:
Not for me it's not. I'll happily support the high street. Fuck amazon.
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Good man.
I’ve bought one thing in my life from Amazon. I use them as a review resource. Fuck em. Using Amazon eventually influences its customers own house prices by reducing local employment. Some may think that a good thing though.
col said:
Thats pretty much spot on.
The Bridges are far too expensive for small shops, and the footfall is pretty bad (considering the rents) most the week most the year. Even the barrows dotted about are around £500+ a week.
Anything outside The Bridges theres no footfall.
The market is council ran, so the chances of anything getting improved is next to zero. They estimated over half a million to paint it, just the walls and ceiling! About 10 years ago they gave a budget of £120k for some improvements. The staff toilets upstairs were needing refurbing, nothing major, they didn't have to be anything special, they were only for staff, new toilet seats, few new cubicle doors, couple of new basins, and just a good deep clean, few tiles replacing. So we agreed that would be done first. They refurbed them, it took them 6 months, they replaced everything. I went to the next meeting with the council to see if we could get some Xmas decorations and a tree out the budget (the ones they were using were over 30 years old), and was told there was no money left, they had gone over budget and the toilets had cost them £135000 (original estimate was around £25k, which I thought was expensive). I actually said to the bloke, are you f***ing kidding? I could build a 6 bed house for less than that, how the hell has it cost £135k to refurb 2 sets of toilets. Still waiting for an answer that makes sense. I'll be amazed if the market ever gets any decent work done on it.
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Follow the money.
 
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JAZZMANB said:
Your £5 exercise is what the Tories missed when they closed 100s of pits . Took the biggest feed at the front of that ripple .
Local shops need to accept their customers are at work if they open hours that were around 50 years ago.
Maybe the covid has put them in touch with the possibility of trading outside the expected norm
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I don't thnk the pits were profitable, and that's why they were closed, and many devastated high streets are not in areas with pits.

ps. I am not a Tory.
 
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Gelan said:
I don't thnk the pits were profitable, and that's why they were closed.

ps. I am not a Tory.
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They weren't, the yards went the same way but it was shortsighted to be so brutal in their closure. That's the point ,it didn't look at the bigger picture
We funded the banks
We've funded furlough
People getting 80% for nowt isn't profitable.
 
tunstallhill said:
i've not bought anything off amazon for ages. only as a total last resort. usually costs £2 / £3 more but i try to go direct to the sellers website for things like electronics and clothing etc.. not always possible but i do try. i think amazon own half the internet though, so they'll be getting money off me from somewhere no doubt. like ebay auctions i sometimes win.

you dont have to physically go to the town centre to support local/british independent companies. i've been getting good ale from loads of little breweries over the last year and its dead easy to go direct to them.

i watched one of these daft youtube videos on this a while back, and there was some clever looking bloke on there explaining how £5 spent in a local butcher, then becomes £5 that the butcher spends on a haircut. the barber then spends that £5 on a pint in his local, whos landlord then then spends the £5 on a local brewery. the brewer spends the £5 getting his brewery painted by a local painter, who then spends the £5 back at the butchers etc.. you get the point.... anyway, he said that first £5 is now worth £35 to the local economy. rather than spending the first £5 in Asda which goes straight to an off-shore tax haven and put on the pile with the other billions of pounds that are hoarded and will never be spent on anything. kind of makes sense to me

i think one of the good things that might come from brexit (staunch remainer here) is that moe people might be more eager look for british products
Click to expand...
Spot on.
But the whole brexit thing only started becos the EU announced they were gonna tax non Dom businesses at the same rates as local ones. IE those owned by the Tory press barons and Amazon, Starbuck, McDonald’s etc etc. The 52% that could be bothered to vote don’t give a fuck about the British high street or the jobs it creates or their own house prices or their own families employment prospects or their own villages/towns/cities/neighbourhoods.
It’s an Amazon sponsored race to the bottom and it’s contestants wont know what they’ve got til it’s gone neither will their councils.
JAZZMANB said:
Your £5 exercise is what the Tories missed when they closed 100s of pits . Took the biggest feed at the front of that ripple .
Local shops need to accept their customers are at work if they open hours that were around 50 years ago.
Maybe the covid has put them in touch with the possibility of trading outside the expected norm
Click to expand...
Banks and Post Offices were the biggest culprits here.
 
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BlackOps said:
Still love to try stuff on before buying, stuff like jeans and tshirts. Footwear i can trust to get online but hate getting clothing online to find it dont fit as sizes are different for different places
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See I can't trust footwear online - some I can maybe, but if I'm looking to get some trainers to run in etc, I can't buy them online in case they're not right. I can't be arsed with the faff
 
riffraff said:
Spot on.
But the whole brexit thing only started becos the EU announced they were gonna tax non Dom businesses at the same rates as local ones. IE those owned by the Tory press barons and Amazon, Starbuck, McDonald’s etc etc. The 52% that could be bothered to vote don’t give a fuck about the British high street or the jobs it creates or their own house prices or their own families employment prospects or their own villages/towns/cities/neighbourhoods.
It’s an Amazon sponsored race to the bottom and it’s contestants wont know what they’ve got til it’s gone neither will their councils.

Banks and Post Offices were the biggest culprits here.
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I dont think its that they dont give a fuck, its just that they are too stupid to see the connection

without sounding holier that thou, me and our lass have made a real effort these last few years to try and shop local as much as we can (to the point where the inconvenience outweighs the benefit) as we both believe that in a massive roundabout way, its better for us personally, and better for our communities, and therefore better for everyone around us, to do so. and as an added benefit, the quality of stuff you get is generally better. butchers especially. theres a one in newcastle called bowers next to a site i go to weekly, and i pop in all the time. its no more expensive than the supermarkets and the quality is 10 x better
 
avacado said:

Park FREE on your local High Street | ParkingPerx

www.parkingperx.com

I’ve my card all ready set up. Just need to get out shopping.
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Never going to happen around my way. The council have increased parking restrictions and employed more wardens. There used to be a couple of laybys that you could use for a few minutes to pop into the shops but last year they had double yellow lines put down and you can see wardens waiting to pounce on anyone using them.
 

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