God, its depressing. Or is it just where i live?

 

Nope that pretty much sums up Belfast too Paul. It is seriously grim.

 

Been like that in my highstreet for the past 15 years!

Labour boom killed it, as all the landlords and councils all wanted too much. Combine that with the lower footfall when the parking charges sky rocketed.

Suprisingly the recession didn't make that much difference - most independant businesses had already packed it in by then, the exception are those that operate internet retailing on the side.

On the otherhand, another nearby high street was killed by a Tesco. And another by out of town shopping centre.

 

In many parts of Notts there's also a charity shop squeezed in between the others listed.

 

Our town, mostly the above with charity shops everywhere, a Bright House, an sleazy pub, and lots of banks and insurance agents.

We also boast the smallest WH Smith normal outlet in any town, NO other bookshop at all
A huge market place, mostly covered with 50% of the stalls no longer used.
NO covered mall, (we are the only sizeable town within a 100 mile radius without one).

But one of our local guys just won fashion retailer of the year, "Fallen Hero".

Oh, and our main shopping areas are all built on an East-west line, so have zero sunshine in winter and howling westerlies when it's cold. Nice

 

got to be 35 percent charity here

 

Pound land, Cash converts, Gold for cash shops .. Betting shops and off licenses .. scary places to be..

Our local area used to have
1. Freeman Hardy Willis, 2. Curtess, 3. Timpson's, 4. Clarkes, 5. Kwik Save, 6. Tesco, 7. Co-op, 8. Safeway, 9. Netto, 10. Marks & Spencer's, 11. Littlewoods 12. John Menzies, 13. Tandy, 14. Curry's, 15. Dixon's, 16. Rumblelows, 17. Woolworths, 18. Halford's, 19. Player's, 20. JJB, 21. Manweb, 22. Cordon Bleu, 23. Knags, 24. Army navy Stores, 25. Ethel Austin's, 26. Super Snaps, 27. Dewhurst, 28. Max Spielmanns, 29. Foster's .. and loads more .. all gone now.

 

You missed gold shops and polish supermarkets

 

we have had 2 corals & 2 bet fair ( i think thats right) pop up in the last 6months.. always full of bums during the day...

 

As above, cash backhanders to council officials for selling off council land or passing planning for Tesco/Asda/ETC and the creation of out of town shopping centres. Councils charging stupid amounts of money for vacant buildings, and wanting ridiculous rates (as on paper they`d make loads).

If councils reduced rates for inner city areas and only allowed independent businesses, then it could recover. But the red tape put up by Labour, the councils being unrealistic, and the stifling of the entrepreneurial spirit. Its these very very high start up costs, and running costs make banks not want to lend as its more high risk, reducing these costs and helping small start ups thrive would be our way out. But the couldn`t do that as they have nice safe jobs for life and thats far too risky and involving work for them, much easier to go on strike.

 

You forgot the "Accident Claims" companies.

Some high streets round here consist of:

Wetherspoons (full of alcoholics at 9am)
Charity Shops
Pawn / Gold Shops
Brighthouse
Polish Supermarket
Accident Claims

Sad times

 

My mate is a shopfitter and his company have a contract with a large pawnbrokers who are opening shops all the time and have been doing for the last couple of years. Mostly in deprived areas he tells me, loads down in London and he's doing one in Longsight, Manchester soon.

They also have an advert on TV during Jeremy Kyle

 

+1

Completely agree here. In West Wales there was a prime location for large shops or one of these shops & cinema venues like the one in Carmarthen.

Guess what was built there? The f*cking council offices. This huge castle as you drive into the town. Legalised corrruption on a grand scale.

 

We have the pleasure of paying £1.10 an hour (£2.40 for 2) to visit charity shops and be accosted by charity muggers. And the council want to combat falling parking revenues by raising prices

 

Councils killed the high Street with astronomical rates and parking. No wonder shoppers flocked to the malls

 

Our one long stay car park used to be 30p. Its a good 8mins walk to the highstreet. But if you wanted cheap at least it was there and you could park all day. Which you wouldn't as your car, if left too long, would get its windows smashed.

Now its £2.60. As a consequence its empty. Nobody is going to pay that much for an 8min walk and to come back to a burgled/vandelised car. The only thing its good for is practicing donuts.

Meanwhile, 'Merry Hell' (the out of town shopping centre) is free to park all day long.

 

Yep its these same councils that stay the same year in year out but the Gov changes. We need to sort local politics out then the national ones will be able to make a change as the councils will be fit for purpose!!

 

Ironically the biggest free car park in our town is cornwall council car park, for it's army of workers

 

The High Street used to be a High Street with a good mixture of high end shops even the charity shops made an effort. Then loads of shops started closing and the place was just filled with fast food places. The concil have fought back and new shops are begining to open with a restriction on food shops

 

Our local car parking wasn't bad at 60p for two hours.

Then in came the Tories, QUADRUPLED it and used the extra income to make parking in the local market towns, (Tory voters) free

Result: empty carparks, one already closed and built on.

 

Three nail bars, two betting shops, two Polish Deli's on our high street

 

Same in Northampton

 

When was the last time you went into town Paul? We went last Sunday, free parking all day which is new. Also, the council might have actually listened to people and reduced parking every other day. 1 hour free in the Mayorhold. Not sure if it's enough to save the town, but I suppose it will help a bit. Can pop in without worrying about having the correct change. (Don't get me started on parking machines not taking cards or giving change!)

 

Not too much of that around here, but I certainly agree with what you say.

Les

 

Well should be plenty of spaces available next week

 

Glad everyone feels the same about parking charges!!!!

Any dimwit short sighted council parking people reading this...durr....better to have full car parks and shoppers than one bloke paying £2.60.

Don't think it affects the shops problem.Every town centre revolves around all the above and phone shops.

Not surprising in an age when an iPhone is classed as a god and more important than food

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-15867823

 

Was is Nottm on Thursday. Had a look where Selectadisc used to be. 7 closed shops almost in a row. Very sad times.

 

Free parking for us only On Sunday's which is ideal for me because it's not as busy and less cūnts

 

Obviously not as posh as my bit of Notts - we have four charity shops on the same road. Two of them are next door to each other

Personally, it's the double glazing showroom who have had a smashed window for months which amuses me....