The Death Of Our High Street

[DUNKS]

We still have one of these shops that sells everything.

He does not sell guns or condoms and that's about all he does not have!

Only shop I know that still sell pure turpentine. He also stocks about five different linseed oils.

[washerboy]

Prime example is S****horpe 

The town centre is dead besides primark and specsavers. The out of town retail park is always busy, even more so with an aldi been built there. 

[old man]

1 hour ago, bruno22rf said:

It's not a difficult choice really - best price and next/same day delivery whilst sat in the living room with a Coffee or 20 minute drive only to sit in a traffic jam, face a limited choice of over priced tat only to return to your Car and find a £70 fine because one of your wheels in on the line rather than between them - that's after being charged a kings ransom to park in the first place if you are lucky enough to find a bay. Most town markets now smell of cigarettes and frying Onions to add to your misery.

Yep.

[washerboy]

Yes another reason I never shop in Doncaster, car parking is beyond a joke. 

S****horpe, Selby are both cheaper to park and more pleasant to walk about in. 

[bavarianbrit]

Out of town is a Ramsgate shopping centre free parking there but the road infrastructure to get to it means sitting in a 20 min jam mostimes, the high st itself is all estate agents or charity shops with expensive parking. The town fathers have slept for the last 30 years. Dover too, Deal is all charity or twee dfl (weekend owners down from London) & coffee shops.

Edited March 15, 2020 by bavarianbrit

[bruno22rf]

S****horpe!! More pleasant than where? The Devils Fudge Hole? Visited back in January and still smell of Fags and Onions - jesus wept the charity shops have bars on the windows. While we were there ,there was a Street Food event taking place - every single outlet was selling Hot Dogs with Onions apart from a German Style stand who was selling, guess what, Frankfurters and Onions. 

[stumfelter]

I used to love walking down the high st accompanied by the smell of cigarettes and frying onions, now I use mainly the internet I have to get the wife to smoke while frying onions to make me feel nostalgic....

[Dave-G]

I occasionally used pop into town on the bus with my free pass but these days I mostly feel the white minority on board. when I get there its mostly coffee, charity or vape shops, people making music, and gospel preaching.

Almost everything I buy is online now.

[fern01]

I used to enjoy going into our town centre every couple off weeks or so.

Very rarely go into town now.

Expensive parking in bays that are far too narrow, buskers, Big issue sellers, pushy canvassers and beggars just make it a pain so don't bother.

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, ditchman said:

 

 

spent many a sat morning in the coffee shop in palmers......

That is the difference between the rich and the poor , or the Grey and White collar workers , while you were sitting at a table with a china cup and saucer , I was just across the road on one of the market tea stalls sipping a dark mug of tea with the smell of Woodbines ,or if it was payday someone might had been smoking a Senior Service , sheer bliss , fond memories and days to be cherished 

[ditchman]

2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

That is the difference between the rich and the poor , or the Grey and White collar workers , while you were sitting at a table with a china cup and saucer , I was just across the road on one of the market tea stalls sipping a dark mug of tea with the smell of Woodbines ,or if it was payday someone might had been smoking a Senior Service , sheer bliss , fond memories and days to be cherished 

yes ,.............prawn cocktail sarnies.......tea in china...........thinking of all the scum across the road..........(mind you i always used to top up with chips on Robins stall)

im such a snob

[washerboy]

2 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

S****horpe!! More pleasant than where? The Devils Fudge Hole? Visited back in January and still smell of Fags and Onions - jesus wept the charity shops have bars on the windows. While we were there ,there was a Street Food event taking place - every single outlet was selling Hot Dogs with Onions apart from a German Style stand who was selling, guess what, Frankfurters and Onions. 

I work in S****horpe but live between Doncaster and Goole. Scunny is easier to park in the Doncaster and cheaper to buy stuff. 

[Dougy]

7 hours ago, Dibble said:

I am a grumpy old man, here is one of my favorite rants......

Modern Retailers are rubbish....

In 1988 I got a temporary job working for Habitat on Briggate in Leeds, a lady called Pat worked there and she showed me the ropes. She had started aged her retail career as a teenager working for Leeds poshest department store (Schofields?) and had been taught to make the customer feel special.

I started to write a list of the hundreds of tiny things she taught me but Ill just give one example. When someone had paid you gave them the coins, waited until they had put them away before handing over the notes. Turned the bag so the customer could easily grab the handles then you said thank-you and smiled at them.

Retail has to be an experience

Spot on, ive been in retail since 1972 always had the banter with all customers from all walks of life rich and poor, it made no difference to me, my belief was if they left the shop smiling they would be back. Always be nice, even to those who thought the world owed them something. 

Im afraid that most shop staff spend all day clock watching, and really dont give a monkeys. I cant stand assistance that have no manors and dont appreciate my money, I tell them there and then what i think. (not grump, just let them know without my money they aint gonna get paid !!!

 

I have left retail now, but like to visit the old villages to look in the bits and bobs shops. 

Its similar to the village pubs too, people dont use them, then moan that their local is closed. 

 

 

[marsh man]

1 minute ago, ditchman said:

yes ,.............prawn cocktail sarnies.......tea in china...........thinking of all the scum across the road..........(mind you i always used to top up with chips on Robins stall)

im such a snob

Remember your grass roots when you were brought up on the Island at the time when a foreigner was someone that had moved in from Suffolk , still you wern't that posh if you bought chips off the Robins stall , we had chips from Kelly's and a quarter of mixed tripe from Nicholls with mustard vinegar , that would have took some beating 

[ditchman]

42 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Remember your grass roots when you were brought up on the Island at the time when a foreigner was someone that had moved in from Suffolk , still you wern't that posh if you bought chips off the Robins stall , we had chips from Kelly's and a quarter of mixed tripe from Nicholls with mustard vinegar , that would have took some beating 

could never understand the attraction of tripe..................tom henwoods brother had a fish stall on the front...............you would be gobsmacked at the ammont of jellied eels he sold....filthy stuff........i wouldnt even give it to my dogs...BBbbaaaahhhhh

[vampire]

Planning department of local council refuse plans because they are not sustainable,have no shop etc.How backward when I can get anything delivered in 24hrs .

High street is all tat shops and coffee .

[marsh man]

2 minutes ago, ditchman said:

could never understand the attraction of tripe..................tom henwoods brother had a fish stall on the front...............you would be gobsmacked at the ammont of jellied eels he sold....filthy stuff........i wouldnt even give it to my dogs...BBbbaaaahhhhh

I must admit I couldn't stand the sight of jellied Ells let alone eating them , I used to sell Trevor Nichols all our Ells and he had a stall on the corner of the market , the ole Londoners used to love em , standing there munching away and spitting the bones out from the corner of there mouths , that would go down well during this virus crisis 

[Farmboy91]

11 minutes ago, vampire said:

Planning department of local council refuse plans because they are not sustainable,have no shop etc.How backward when I can get anything delivered in 24hrs .

High street is all tat shops and coffee .

You've got a Chinese and a pub all rolled into one 😂

[udderlyoffroad]

8 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, i would like to see M and S do more in the food market, the Oxford store has 3 floors of clothing and home section yet the food side no bigger than a tennis court and gets very busy to full most days, and prices compare very well to the high end supermarket,

Oh how the other half live 🙂  I went into an M&S food hall once with the missus, picked up some posh food for a romantical picnic by the river, was told that we weren't going back in there again.

Though as we're being all nostalgic, not far from you, Witney High Street still seems to be doing ok.  Still has the confusingly named Bakers the Butchers, and Denton's toy shop, where I spent all of my pocket money is still going (or was a year ago).

 

9 hours ago, Dave at kelton said:

But it’s not about price any longer. It is about out of town experience, convenience and online. I have spent over forty years as a commercial property consultant and the High Street in its past form will never return. The best thing we can do is get all those unused shops into residential use to get the population back into the centre and not keep extending the suburbs. Only that will create centres of population that then demand retail services in a reduced form. I am afraid that Corvid 2 is likely to be the final straw.

+1

There's such a thing as opportunity cost (whether or not people call it that), and for me the high street long since cost too much.  Price, on its own, is only one factor.

That said, there are opportunities for specialist retailers.  Thanks to the VCR bill, the gun trade is largely retail - ok an artificial barrier, but still.  Another example, when I was in the market for a decent drill/driver combo, Bell Tools in Bristol gave me a better deal than I could get on the internet.  This meant I've gone back there and purchased other battery operated tools.  But note they do not deal in cheap tat tools.

[oldypigeonpopper]

7 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Oh how the other half live 🙂  I went into an M&S food hall once with the missus, picked up some posh food for a romantical picnic by the river, was told that we weren't going back in there again.

Though as we're being all nostalgic, not far from you, Witney High Street still seems to be doing ok.  Still has the confusingly named Bakers the Butchers, and Denton's toy shop, where I spent all of my pocket money is still going (or was a year ago).

 

+1

There's such a thing as opportunity cost (whether or not people call it that), and for me the high street long since cost too much.  Price, on its own, is only one factor.

That said, there are opportunities for specialist retailers.  Thanks to the VCR bill, the gun trade is largely retail - ok an artificial barrier, but still.  Another example, when I was in the market for a decent drill/driver combo, Bell Tools in Bristol gave me a better deal than I could get on the internet.  This meant I've gone back there and purchased other battery operated tools.  But note they do not deal in cheap tat tools.

hello, never been called other half if i bought the same items in tesco with their so called better range in costs more, !!!!!! yes i go to Witney ( bus pass) when i fancy a change and go to Waitrose shopping( free coffee) its a nice market town for a stroll around, tis shame the gun shop moved, 

Edited March 15, 2020 by oldypigeonpopper

[Dave at kelton]

8 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Oh how the other half live 🙂  I went into an M&S food hall once with the missus, picked up some posh food for a romantical picnic by the river, was told that we weren't going back in there again.

Though as we're being all nostalgic, not far from you, Witney High Street still seems to be doing ok.  Still has the confusingly named Bakers the Butchers, and Denton's toy shop, where I spent all of my pocket money is still going (or was a year ago).

 

+1

There's such a thing as opportunity cost (whether or not people call it that), and for me the high street long since cost too much.  Price, on its own, is only one factor.

That said, there are opportunities for specialist retailers.  Thanks to the VCR bill, the gun trade is largely retail - ok an artificial barrier, but still.  Another example, when I was in the market for a decent drill/driver combo, Bell Tools in Bristol gave me a better deal than I could get on the internet.  This meant I've gone back there and purchased other battery operated tools.  But note they do not deal in cheap tat tools.

 Agreed, not high street but we have a great tool and ironmonger where you can still buy a bolt or a nut, not blister packs. They don’t sell tat and are competitive if not cheapest. I try and support all, our local retailers be they butchers, bakers, ironmongers or even our fishing tackle shop. 

[udderlyoffroad]

20 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

if i bought the same items in tesco with their so called better range in costs more, !!!!!! y

Tescos are terrible on either end of the price spectrum.  Their 'value' stuff is tat; the posh range, is as you put, might as well go to Waitrose.  I don't know why people bother.  Especially not at 3am, as some on here do.

The German retailers (Aldi/Lidl) are successful, not because they're the cheapest (despite media repeatedly referring to them as discounters), but because their own brand stuff is...ok.  It's more hit than miss.  Also the 'fun aisle' in the middle tempts us blokes in.  I have actually gone in for milk, come out with welding clamps.  And they weren't exactly Bessey quality, but they weren't that bad either.

Anyway, back on topic, my local high street, unlike Witney is pretty grim.  Gambling shops, charity shops, vape shops, pawn brokers/second hand tat shops and the constant stench of weed.  Why would I possibly go there unless I had to.

[Dave at kelton]

36 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, never been called other half if i bought the same items in tesco with their so called better range in costs more, !!!!!! yes i go to Witney ( bus pass) when i fancy a change and go to Waitrose shopping( free coffee) its a nice market town for a stroll around, tis shame the gun shop moved, 

Witney is one town that got it right putting the supermarket in the middle and a new housing and retail development on the old football club also in the middle. Daughter lives there and I love visiting.

[oldypigeonpopper]

7 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Tescos are terrible on either end of the price spectrum.  Their 'value' stuff is tat; the posh range, is as you put, might as well go to Waitrose.  I don't know why people bother.  Especially not at 3am, as some on here do.

The German retailers (Aldi/Lidl) are successful, not because they're the cheapest (despite media repeatedly referring to them as discounters), but because their own brand stuff is...ok.  It's more hit than miss.  Also the 'fun aisle' in the middle tempts us blokes in.  I have actually gone in for milk, come out with welding clamps.  And they weren't exactly Bessey quality, but they weren't that bad either.

Anyway, back on topic, my local high street, unlike Witney is pretty grim.  Gambling shops, charity shops, vape shops, pawn brokers/second hand tat shops and the constant stench of weed.  Why would I possibly go there unless I had to.

hello, the new Lidl cannot come soon enough to Abingdon,

[kenholland]

the specials got that right , this place is coming like a ghost town they must have seen what was coming.