Are they any outwards signs of the recession in your local town?

bo_drinker

tomstickland wrote: »

I noticed quite a few "To Let" signs in a local town a few weeks ago. One or two factory units are boarded up, plus a few pubs here and there, but no really obvious sign of a recession.

What about in your area?

What are "obvious signs" ?? Our area is pretty much as others have described. If those are not obvious signs then what is??

Woby_Tide

Woolies gone, couple of restaurants closed(countered by at least 2 or 3 opening in the last few months). As it tends to be more tourist related be more interesting in the summer months as to whether it's busier because people are holidaying in the UK like they keep telling us, or that it's quieter as no-one can afford a holiday anywhere.

twirlypinky

Where I live it was already fairly grotty to be honest. A lot of very wealthy people live here (Hospital town with medical staff that don't want to travel a long way) but none of them shop here, they all go into central oxford or one of the outlets. Anyway, back to the point. Lots of charity shop, a new one opened a couple of weeks ago. Subway and Starbucks always have a queue and so does the chippy.

There aren't many other shops. There are two cancer research places over the road from eachother, and lots of others, we've got about 6 charity shops I would think.

What is interesting is that our big Somerfield is turning into a Waitrose, so perhaps the locals will start to shop here for that.

ruggedtoast

Lots of closed down shops, to let signs everywhere. I think in the end it will be good for many high streets though .

Chain stores have proliferated like a plague of mushrooms to the point where most high streets have begum to look like identical copies of one another.

The chains have expanded far beyond the point where there was a business case for them to do so. If the "Woolworths. Foxtons. JJB Sports. Dolcis. Body Shop. Clintons. Subway. Starbucks. Starbucks. JJB Sports. WH Smith. Foxtons. Starbucks. Greggs. Cafe Nero" parade is getting broken up so more agile local retailers that actually fulfil a purpose to their community can open, all the better.

elaina79

I live opposite a building site where there is almost no activity anymore. At the end of my road the pub and shop is boarded up and my local shopping centre is looking very empty.

tomterm8

Really2 wrote: »

I never started speaking a foreign language in the boom

I think there are two reasons for it. Firstly, sterling has fallen in value so much, there are far more competative countries abroad for foreign labour. Lots of the poles that were here in the boom have left. A pity, I always quite liked them, they were hard working and friendly.

Secondly, I live on the edge of a town that is basically a minor tourist town (mainly French, Spanish people on day trips) and they have a recession that's deep. So the tourist season is much shorter than it was.

Martinslovechild

Woolworths, Zavvi & MFI have all recently closed.

A men's clothing store has closed, a hi-fi shop closed.

The pubs were packed on Saturday but was talking with people who said that they weren't very busy on Friday. Normally, they're busy both nights.

The missus visited a local hairdresser a couple of Saturdays ago and normally struggles to get an appointment on a Sat afternoon. She arrived there and four of the chairs were empty!

Some restaurants are clearly not as full. The ones that are have reasonable prices (£12-£16 for mains), do great food & have a nice ambience. The more expensive ones don't seem to do as well during the week but are still busy at weekends. That will likely change soon - the local car manufacturer is down to 3 days a week and about to close for 6 weeks.

Shame. Apparently it's only going to get worse before it gets better...

chaotic_j

Lots of closed shops and also increasing crime.

chris_spackman

Lots of For Sale signs on the thousands of flats built that Bournemouth and Poole Council gave the ahead to and the development firms going bust.

Running_Horse

Yeah, walked round a new development of riverside flats, and it's like a ghost town, and a couple of repossession notices.