The High Street is really suffering...

Pennywise

We need some coherent plans to rejuvenate the town centres. The councils are the main culprits with their expensive car parks, parking restrictions and one-way systems which simply make drivers go to the out of town stores instead. It's as if the councils want the town centres for themselves for their "pet" projects such as council offices, museums, art centres, etc. But, I don't think that supporting shops in town centres is the complete answer.

Looking back in history (certainly the towns near me), the main streets were predominantly houses rather than shops, mixed in with warehouses and other traders. Many houses would incorporate professionals such as doctors, vets, lawyers, etc as part of the house. There was certainly not the proliferation of retail outlets that we've seen in the last few decades.

Car transport is the most popular form of transport - however hard councils try to think otherwise, people still want to use their cars. It's because it's become so hard to drive into town centres that virtually every business type is moving to out of town centres. It started with supermarkets, but now even banks, accountants, vets, etc have their offices on out of town parks instead of town centres - there's only one reason for this and that is the ease and convenience for the majority of people who travel by car. In another 50 years or so, perhaps car transport won't be so prevailant but today it is and the councils and planners need to get used to it and not fight it.

If you look at nearly any High Street shop front, and then look skywards, you'll see 2 or 3 empty floors that used to be living accommodation, but now maybe storage or if you're lucky maybe a second floor belonging to the shop or an office. Just think about the lost potential of hundreds, if not thousands of unused square footage in every town centre.

I think the planners and politicians, working alongside architects, etc., need to come up with a revolutionary new idea for town centres to turn them back into places where people are happy to live, work and play. Sadly, it seems that the current trend is simply to convert old warehouses into posh flats - surely the best minds in the country can come up with something better than that!

nearlynew

In my local high street Tesco, having contributed to the demise of local shops by building 3 out-of-town superstores within a 10 minute drive, are moving back into a large empty shop.

And they have undoubtedly either bought the place on the cheap or have very favourable rent.

LydiaJ

It's not just that the retail centres are cheap. There are two other considerations too.

A generation or two ago, people walked. A family would probably have two adults but only one car. They wanted to buy stuff from shops they could walk to. Local shops made sense. Now, people drive. Families typically have the same number of cars as adults. They want to buy stuff from shops where it's convenient to park. Retail parks make that easy.

A generation or two ago, families typically had one (male) wage-earner, and one (female) person at home looking after the kids and doing the shopping. This person had time to get bread from the baker, meat from the butcher, vegetables from the greengrocer, and so on, and to bother about choosing carefully and getting the nicest stuff. Now, families typically have either one or two adults, both of whom work. They want shopping to be quick - all under one roof is good, but a delivery (all from one shop) is even quicker.

It certainly explains the difference between my shopping habits and those of my mother when she was my age. She went shopping while her kids were at school. I order mine online and get it delivered, because when my kids are at school, I'm at work.

Francesanne

Dan: wrote: »

Credits Cards / Overdrafts - but people can cope with it.

Very many people can't manage their debts, that's why they're in such a mess.Thankfully, I'm not in that position but know many couples who are up to their eyes in debt.

mbga9pgf

Secondly, I can make that call - prices have bottomed and my prediction was right.

So, you are saying categorically prices will not get any lower than this point? Your evidence? Typical Boll0x spouted by Dan by the sounds of it.

Dan:_4

mbga9pgf wrote: »

So, you are saying categorically prices will not get any lower than this point? Your evidence? Typical Boll0x spouted by Dan by the sounds of it.

Not this point. Feb 09 was the very bottom or have you forgot the last 5 months of rises?

mbga9pgf

5 Months? Want to check those stats...

Can you say categorically, with 100% certainty that prices will not drop off a cliff next year?

Nope, thought not.

ess0two

mbga9pgf wrote: »

5 Months? Want to check those stats...

Can you say categorically, with 100% certainty that prices will not drop off a cliff next year?

Nope, thought not.

We can only deal with the evidence in front of us,at the moment property has stopped crashing,Feb being the best time to buy at the moment.

Dan:_4

mbga9pgf wrote: »

5 Months? Want to check those stats...

Nationwide Index:

Feb 09 £147,746
Mar 09 £150,946
Apr 09 £151,861
May 09 £154,016
Jun 09 £156,442
Jul 09 £158,871

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Can you say categorically, with 100% certainty that prices will not drop off a cliff next year?

I thought prices were supposed to fall of a cliff this year?

There will be more falls, but I doubt we will go much below the feb 09 bottom.

p.s. i didn't mean to thank your post above - please disregard.

mbga9pgf

There will be more falls, but I doubt we will go much below the feb 09 bottom.

I think you will be proved a fool.