Supermarkets & the high street

StevieJ

pqrdef wrote: »

And yet they often don't charge nights and Sundays, even though they could. And some places that do have enough space do have free parking, even though they could charge if they liked.

In Chester it is free after 3pm.

StevieJ

I must be missing something, if the locals don't want a Tesco why not simply boycott it?

A community poll in October, which drew a higher turnout than the town's mayoral referendum, gave a thumping 'no'. In total, 1,080 people voted against Tesco, and only 69 in favour.

vivatifosi

A._Badger wrote: »

I do, however, think it''s the duty of local councils to stop destroying small businesses by levying absurd charges on the High St and then making it as difficult as possible for shoppers to drive and park there.

pqrdef wrote: »

The office workers would take all the spaces.

Generally the point of council parking schemes in town centres is to ration space and time to give everybody a chance, because in a free-for-all it would become impossible to park at all.

One way of managing that conundrum would be to offer the first hour free, to give time people to pop in and get the urgent things done but not to meander, then charge after that. I know of a few towns that do that and it's quite successful.

s_b

im a vehement believer in use it or lose it but i went to purchase an article from a local trader the other day and he quoted me a price then topped it up with the vat then had the cheek to ask if i wanted a receipt,i had gone into his shop to keep his business going when i could have got it for half the price via the internet

in my village we have all facilities but banks and a coop that just takes the michael however we now have a new kid on the block that has just opened and sells most provisions is family run friendly and cheaper than the coop, i could hardly get in the shop yesterday because it was full of pensioners who have to be more money savvy than me because they will be on fixed incomes
it proves to me this coop are targeting the new nouveau riche that have descended on us and wouldnt know the price of a loaf if i stuck their heads in it

so we are all doomed

A._Badger

The Co-Op is a retail g***l, preying on those who have to shop there because they can't get to cheaper stores - often the elderly.

Pont

pqrdef wrote: »

The office workers would take all the spaces.

Generally the point of council parking schemes in town centres is to ration space and time to give everybody a chance, because in a free-for-all it would become impossible to park at all.

In France you find large free carparks in most town centres. When you park up you take a ticket from an automated machine and place said ticket on your dashboard as you do here. The ticket quite clearly states you have 1 hour free parking and shows the time that you must leave by.

If you don't display a ticket, or overstay your welcome, you can get fined. This system stops office workers (or anyone else) parking all day, but affords shoppers who want to use local town centre shops the time to do so without being charged.

Don't know why the same system can't work in our town centres too (unless, as many of us suspect, the charges are merely for revenue raising purposes).

[Deleted User]

Pont wrote: »

Let's not forget that Mr T (and all) offer free car parking. The High Street does not. Also, at least around my area, pub closures are due to the fact Mr T (and all) sell a bottle of semi good wine for £4 - £5 a bottle whereas the pubs charge the same for a glass!

Local Authorities (and it galls me to afford capital letters) have a lot to answer for. Get rid of High Street parking charges (and we may use High Street shops). Lower the totally extortionate business taxes for pub landlords and we may get a beer for a reasonable price.

The only place (semi locally) that seems to buck the trend is Ludlow, Shropshire. But...you can park for free (if you know the side streets) and the pubs make an effort (you don't seem to be ripped off because there are small independent brewing/vineyards locally).

I love Ludlow - I want to live there!!

2 things are killing most pubs,the high rents that the likes of enterprise are charging them(often £500 a week),and the smoking ban
if neither of these existed then we`d still have many of the pubs that have closed

Graham_Devon

Related to this point, I popped into Asda to get a few things on Saturday and wished I never did. It was heaving, and upon commenting to the cashier, who was one of those overly helpful people, way above his position as a checkout operator, he stated people are panic buying due to Asda being closed on Sunday.

The town was also pretty heaving, but it's got no "one off" shops as it were. Your newsagents is Mccolls. Your pharmacist is Boots. Your options Vision Express. Your pub Wetherspoons and so on.

Was pretty impressed as to just how busy Asda was though. I was of course in there for my panic buying of Easter eggs. It does make you stand back and ponder whether people really are struggling, as the amount of full trolleys in there was making it hard just to walk arond the isles.

Pennywise

Graham_Devon wrote: »

It does make you stand back and ponder whether people really are struggling, as the amount of full trolleys in there was making it hard just to walk arond the isles.

The vast majority of people aren't struggling at all. Most people still have jobs, still get annual pay rises, etc. Even most of those on benefits are getting annual increases. OK, inflation and food/fuel prices are an issue for those already on the bread line, but the vast majority aren't. I've just come back from a week in London - Legoland with its way overinflated prices was just as busy as ever - as was Oxford Street. You could barely move in Hamleys. Tourist buses were full (at over £20 per person). Not just foreigners either - lots of British families. Long queues everywhere for over-priced fast food and souvenirs. At the end of the day, it's a small proportion of people who are feeling the pinch - those who've lost their jobs or who were already on the breadline. Our economy is bigger than it was in say 2005, and I don't remember that year being a financial catastrophy. We're just going through a correction - most people are fine, a minority are, sadly, badly affected.

s_b

20% is the official out of a job figure
I dont believe this as my wife is out of a job but has been turned down for job seekers allowance so probably not classed as a one in five
My business is down 50%, there are businesses all around me doing no business at all and clinging on,one small factory has put all its workers on a 3 day week and given everyone this week off,my local shopkeeper tells me that the wholesaler he buys all his produce off is struggling and has made 10 redundant out of a staff of 50.
Of course if you go down to london it will be busy,i was down there a few months back,i spent money,did you want me to take a begging bowl in between tube journeys?
As for asda being busy you need to go to the farmfoods i use if you want to see poor people struggling,of course there are people there too that are true moneysavers like me, but if you scratch the surface properly you will see the country as a whole struggling
As for pubs even i dont use them anymore and ive spent my life in them but only use them when in strange towns,the rest of the time i drink at home or in my working mens club,its just too expensive to be a pub drinker these days