A Fifth of Britains Shops Stand Empty

bo_drinker

fc123 knows her onions on this sort of thing.

It does make you wonder what the future holds for the High St, I think around 60 empty here, some prime positions, caught a glimpse of some rents wanted even for small units 6 - 800 a week before you've sold a thing. :eek: and then the rates.

Cleaver

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I remember all the stuff not that long ago about the government forcing the supermarkets to charge for their car parking, at £2 a time (think it was 2 quid anyway). Wonder what happened to that?

Gordon Brown will have woken up to a horse's head in his bed with a note from Sir Terry Leahy and subsequently changed his mind.

bo_drinker

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I'd certainly like to see more help given to small business.

I remember all the stuff not that long ago about the government forcing the supermarkets to charge for their car parking, at £2 a time

Why would they do that ??

lostinrates

Lots of old shops...like listed building shops, have become houses...could these not be flats....or brownfield sites?

WhiteThierry

lemonjelly wrote: »

Wolverhampton (my home) & bradford are the worst affected from what I heard this morning.

globalds wrote: »

Unfortunately it is pretty obvious why Wolverhampton has so many closed shops.

It is a mess of a town. If I still lived there I would be disgusted by the actions of the council.
This has been going on for years .It is not a lack of investment. It is a lack of cohesive and strategic planning.

i lived near wolverhampton for 2 years and it is without doubt a smouldering cesspit, (i come from wakefield, so im well qualified to judge smouldering cesspits). But it really shouldn't be, as globalds says the town is a mess. Its not a particularly rough area,especially for the well to do the outlying areas in shropshire and staffordshire its the nearest big city, (and i dont include the soulless telford in that, id rather a cesspit than a soulless vacuum of imagination like telford). It also has fantastic transport links, albeit in outlying areas as has been mentioned, but i think the folks of wolverhampton should be outraged by the state of their city, or maybe they're too busy watching x factor and other more important things!:mad:

Graham_Devon

bo_drinker wrote: »

Why would they do that ??

For revenue (the money would have gone to the government) and also to encourage shopping elsewhere I guess.

But most probably, it was revenue.

fc123

bo_drinker wrote: »

fc123 knows her onions on this sort of thing.

It does make you wonder what the future holds for the High St, I think around 60 empty here, some prime positions, caught a glimpse of some rents wanted even for small units 6 - 800 a week before you've sold a thing. :eek: and then the rates.

Thanks but I just fake it really
I can only comment from my own (and other indies) experiences and now have 2 decades of changing times to look back on. It's much easier to look back than judge things when you are in the thick of it.

Areas die for all sorts of reasons and the Tesco effect has been forecasted for years...but it can take up to a decade for the effects to be seen....and then it's too late. It can take even longer for the councils and landlords to wise up too.
There are some serious opps in commercial property at the mo if you can stump up the business rates for as long as it takes to get change of use.

Change is not a bad thing though...I quite like it in a way.

All these town areas will evolve but not with grants and regeneration panels...but by individuals spotting a gap and then taking on a premises to try it out.

To be on topic on this board I should have made a mint on commercial property over the past 20 years as we opened up in cheap, run down areas 3 times and others like us did too...then the areas became more popular, the Costas/Strabucks came along then a few 'wannabe' chains and they eventually priced us all out.

Had we been able to raise finance for freehold property back in the 90's, I could have cleaned up and flogged the properties to a Subway in 2007.

For us, it was a very positive thing as it pushed me out of my comfort zone and I now trade in an environment that is at the top of our game...which I will max out for as long as it lasts.

I have my eye on an area...keep meaning to do a thread on it when I have time.

bo_drinker

lostinrates wrote: »

Lots of old shops...like listed building shops, have become houses...could these not be flats....or brownfield sites?

I think that is the only option for some areas mainly due to lack of wannabe investors in dead areas.
Space above many shops has been wasted for years, or maybe too much hassle to get planning for flats above ??

doire_2

purch wrote: »

Many of Britain's towns and cities now have a fifth of their shops standing empty.

OR



Inability to actually understand a news story, and get the facts right.

Dear or dear silly post.

Im using the headline from the BBC website.

blueboy43

doire wrote: »

Dear or dear silly post.

Im using the headline from the BBC website.

Oh thats alright then.

As long as people aren't managing to think for themselves.