The death of the high street.
Discussion
Lemming Train said:
The same that is 'going on' in every other town and city in the UK.
True.I suppose it's because I only tend to go to Chester now for two specific reasons; either to have a top-notch breakfast in a small cafe or wander round the park so I've not trotted round all the shopping streets for a while now and it came as a bit of a surprise.
powerstroke said:
Lemming Train said:
The same that is 'going on' in every other town and city in the UK.
Yes you are made most unwelcome if you dare to drive a car ...
My missus reckons Browns can't last long - never anyone in there. It'll futher mess up Foregate Street and It sits at the heart of the shopping area.
snuffy said:
powerstroke said:
Yes you are made most unwelcome if you dare to drive a car ...
My main reason to go today was to pay a cheque in for £20. Cost me £5 for just under an hour an a half. I wonder why people don't bother going into town centres any more ?Everyone goes to Sealand (retail park) these days.
Quite a few empty shops now in the city centre.
It's a shame.
Plenty of beggars/ homeless knocking about too (that said, Liverpool has an epidemic of them).
powerstroke said:
Lemming Train said:
The same that is 'going on' in every other town and city in the UK.
Yes you are made most unwelcome if you dare to drive a car ...
I said it some months back either in this thread or maybe one of the other high street/retail threads but I'll say it again : imo it's only a matter of time before the LAs charge to park at free out-of-town retail parks. There was a thread just a few days ago about how the LAs are now beginning to enforce employers to charge their employees to park their cars in their own privately owned staff car parks and so I see LAs charging to park at other currently 'free' places as the natural progression along from that. Calling it right now.They hide behind BS such as needing to meet EU air quality targets but everyone with a brain knows it's got absolutely nothing to do with that and everything to do with their drop in income from central government and things like town centre parking which is in decline as people refuse to be fleeced to park their car when they can stay at home and order from the internet. The LAs have already increased council tax to as much as they can get away with and know there would be uproar if they increased it any further so they have to find other sneaky ways to fleece people for even more money to ensure that the gravy train keeps rolling and they all keep their heads firmly in the trough.
If parking charges are introduced at shopping malls/out-of-town retail parks then that will be the death knell for 'physical' retail in the UK as we know it and there'll be no coming back from it as motorists are sick to death of being fleeced. Ordering everything online and having it delivered will become the new norm. I'll even go as far as to predict that when this happens the LAs will introduce some form of compulsory tax or charge on the delivery couriers which will be passed straight on to the customer. Rest assured the LAs will find some new way of fleecing us when we're no longer using our cars
.Red 4 said:
The free after 3 scheme was scrapped last year.
Everyone goes to Sealand (retail park) these days.
Quite a few empty shops now in the city centre.
It's a shame.
Plenty of beggars/ homeless knocking about too (that said, Liverpool has an epidemic of them).
You'd be lucky to find any town without beggars/homeless nowadays .Everyone goes to Sealand (retail park) these days.
Quite a few empty shops now in the city centre.
It's a shame.
Plenty of beggars/ homeless knocking about too (that said, Liverpool has an epidemic of them).
snuffy said:
powerstroke said:
Yes you are made most unwelcome if you dare to drive a car ...
My main reason to go today was to pay a cheque in for £20. Cost me £5 for just under an hour an a half. I wonder why people don't bother going into town centres any more ?hyphen said:
I went to Guilford on Sunday. Was surprised at the parking charges, Sunday special is £1.50 for 5 hours in the central multi storey!!
Up until a few months ago I used to park in central Manchester in the week. 5 - 24 hours is £25. Same at the weekends. I can't imagine it was full at the weekends. snuffy said:
powerstroke said:
Yes you are made most unwelcome if you dare to drive a car ...
My main reason to go today was to pay a cheque in for £20. Cost me £5 for just under an hour an a half. I wonder why people don't bother going into town centres any more ?Canterbury lets you park all day for £3.50 and you get unlimited rides on the buses to and from town for all passengers. Buses run every 8 minutes.
Additional to my ramblings above : I had completely forgotten about parking permits! This will be the LAs next way of fleecing us to make up the shortfall from no-one driving into town and paying to park anymore. They will introduce parking permits for on-street residential parking, something like £200-250 per year for a permit as this is probably similar to the average amount a person woud pay to park in a town centre over a year to go shopping. Parking permits are already quite spread in and around London I think(?) but it's the next logical step for the LAs - introduce them in other cities, then the towns and then they'll slowly creep out from the centre towards the suburbs.
Brainpox said:
A decent park and ride service can work, but they are poorly advertised.
Canterbury lets you park all day for £3.50 and you get unlimited rides on the buses to and from town for all passengers. Buses run every 8 minutes.
Its not that its poorly advertsied, its that the traffic on its bus route is horrendous, and its location means if you are coming from the other direction you will drive through town to get to it then wait in line and traffic to get back to where you just came from. Depending on where you are shopping you would then need to walk a fair distance passed the car parks with all your bags to get to the bus stop back.Canterbury lets you park all day for £3.50 and you get unlimited rides on the buses to and from town for all passengers. Buses run every 8 minutes.
Despite being expensive the car parks are usually full at the weekends. I would say the majority are local residents who know the park and ride is there.
However - if it gets any more expensive I imagine people will just stop going into town rather than use them. Thats what we did. A walk around town and lunch / dinner used to be a weekly thing but could cost you £8 - £11 in parking so we stopped going and now do it barely once every 6 months. If we need to shop we are in and out in an hour now. Its supposed to be leisurely thats where the appeal lies. Once it becomes an expensive item on your to do list you start to plan around it and minimise the need to be there.
snuffy said:
Stan the Bat said:
Try the new library, it's quite a nice place to spend a bit of time.
And today I've never seen so many empty shops. Watergate Street must have had 6 or more, Frodsham street was not much better and the bottom of Foregate Street near The Old Queens Head was like a shanty town. What is going on in Chester ?
I knew someone who worked in Kent council. To them cars were evil. False stop. So they wouldn't care that the policies they introduced ended up killing the high Street. As long As they meant 1 less car journey they would see that as a price worth paying... as cars are evil. Full stop. Sad really... especially as they were pretty senior and did make the policies.
snuffy said:
Stan the Bat said:
snuffy said:
I've just wondered around Chester for an hour or so this afternoon (I only live about 5 or 6 miles away but I hardly ever bother to go into the City now) and I ventured into HMV and WHSmiths. HMV has just moved (well, within the last year I think). No wonder it's gone bust, it was like walking into something from the 80s.
And Smiths was worse. It was like travelling back in time to the 70s ! How can it survive ?
Try the new library, it's quite a nice place to spend a bit of time.And Smiths was worse. It was like travelling back in time to the 70s ! How can it survive ?
Unless I’m missing something it’s pretty simple, in terms of traditional retail the high street is indeed dead. The future for the high street is food, drink and other ‘experiences’.
Anyone who thinks he high street can ‘do’ retail is deluded.
My local menswear shop is now a coffee shop, hairdresser and social club that happened to also sell clothes l. They seem to be doing better than most.
Anyone who thinks he high street can ‘do’ retail is deluded.
My local menswear shop is now a coffee shop, hairdresser and social club that happened to also sell clothes l. They seem to be doing better than most.
survivalist said:
Unless I’m missing something it’s pretty simple, in terms of traditional retail the high street is indeed dead. The future for the high street is food, drink and other ‘experiences’.
Anyone who thinks he high street can ‘do’ retail is deluded.
None of this will make any difference until the LAs remove parking charges and their congestion generating obstacle courses to get into town.Anyone who thinks he high street can ‘do’ retail is deluded.
Lemming Train said:
None of this will make any difference until the LAs remove parking charges and their congestion generating obstacle courses to get into town.
far too much money changing hands between the owners of the large retail parks and council officials.To the point of almost sponsorship .Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff